They have helped make stars and history, formed political fashions and pharaohs' essentials for the afterlife and are counted as one indicator of economic boom and bust. They also stay closer to men for longer than their wives or girlfriends ever will. So, why is it that men apparently give...

I recently found myself in the situation of being lectured to by a stubborn, white-clad general hospital doctor who explained how wrong I was in wanting my father transferred to a clinic specialising in the treatment of his condition.

The experience caused me to reflect on one of the most...

Many of us will have started this New Year with a host of resolutions about how to improve many aspects of our life in an attempt to make ourselves look and feel better.

We will join gyms and start diets, brush up our CVs or maybe learn a language and...

Recent years have not been kind to smokers.

The acrid smoke of cigarettes, their dangerously negative health effects and the malodorous imprint which nicotine leaves even on the clothes of those who don't deliberately choose to inhale are all cited as reasons why smoking is no longer cool or...

For some people the Christmas holidays are anything but a time of rest. If anything, any ambition they may harbour in the workplace is replaced by a steely determination to make the best possible impression as guest or host in front of family or friends.

The traditional idea of Christmas...

That the auctions of the late Elizabeth Taylor's possessions began with the world's economy teetering on the brink of another recession was the type of contrast which underlined the separation between a great Hollywood star and the rest of us mere mortals.

The records which tumbled during a sale of...

The run-up to Christmas used to be something of a sprint. Decorations only went up in homes and stores from the start of December while the seasonal social calendar consisted of a short burst of parties with work-mates, friends and family a couple of weeks or so before Santa Claus...

Today would have been Gianni Versace's 65th birthday.

For a man who had dedicated his life to family, friends and making wonderful clothes, he met a bloody and brutally unnecessary end, shot dead outside his Florida home just over 14 years ago.

I had the pleasure of not only knowing...

The quest to find the secret of eternal youth is something which has taxed the minds of scientists for millennia.

People were fascinated with the idea of preserving life and looks long before the current age of celebrity. For some, however, recent technological innovations have made the desire to avoid...