Features
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Training day
Now that the festive season is over, have you plucked up enough courage to step on the bathroom scales? Are you ignoring the extra weight in the room or are you already working out and following a good diet? If you’ve chosen the latter, good for...
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My fitness and other animals
Croatian Zoran Jankovic is a veterinary surgeon and has been based in Malta for the last 14 years. Not surprisingly, he is also an animal lover and is the proud owner of two dogs who are also his exercise buddies. Zoran has always had a particular...
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Top of the box-office pops
It should came as no surprise that action and adventure films dominated the box office in Maltese cinemas during 2012, with James Bond successfully fighting off a plethora of superheroes to top the year’s box office, celebrating the 50th anniversary...
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Showcase of Malta’s scenic and archaeological sites
Fomm ir-Riħ (Mouth of the Wind) and its environs in idyllic Baħrija are undoubtedly a ramblers’ paradise, synonymous with verdant valleys alternating with frighteningly sheer cliffs, rugged wilderness, strange geological formations and a decaying...
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Cardinal Martini – a Father of the Church
Cardinal Martini, Archbishop of Milan, was called many deserving titles. I prefer to call him a listener to the word of God, which helped him to become a modern Father of the Church – a point of reference to many Christians, other believers and...
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De Valette or de la Valette?
The recent inauguration of a new square in Valletta has once more triggered off controversy concerning the surname of the hero of the Great Siege and founder of the city-fortress of Valletta, known to many as Jean Parisot de la Valette, Grand Master...
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Superb cast for asuperb classic
Written over 150 years ago, Charles Dickens’ timeless classic Great Expectations is as resonant today as it was when it first appeared in Dickens’ own journal All the Year Round in December 1860. The story was then published in novel form in 1861,...
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60 years ago: Lancaster crashes into Luqa village
Like all schoolchildren in Malta, 10-year-old Charlie Seychell was enjoying his Christmas and New Year holidays at home on the morning of Tuesday, December 30, 1952. His father had promised to take him to Valletta but he had to stay at home, having...
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The good, the bad and the ugly
It’s that time of the year again when Paula Fleri-Soler reviews the year’s highlights on the silver screen and the ones which didn’t quite deliver. What did 2012 have to offer us at the cinema? There was plenty of good stuff. Super-heroes dominated...
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And the awards go to...
December signals the start of film awards frenzy, as studios roll out their prize-worthy fare and critics’ associations announce their favourite films of the year and dole out awards like mince pies. The Golden Globe nominations announced 10 days...
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Choose Christ this Christmas
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23) At a time when greed, hatred and hypocrisy prevail upon the world, morality is forgotten or neglected. In the midst of these...
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Is it La Valette or De Valette?
You are taken on a conducted tour of the monuments of the French Grand Masters in St John’s Co-Cathedral. This gives you the opportunity to admire the splendid memorials to Grand Masters Emanuel de la Rohan, Hugh de la Verdalle, Jean de la Valette,...
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Maltese seaman who survived sinking of Mountbatten’s ship
On May 9, 1940, the destroyer HMS Kelly, captained by Lord Louis Mountbatten, was torpedoed by German motor-torpedo boat S31 off the Dutch coast (see my article in The Sunday Times, May 27). Kelly was then repaired at the Tyne, and Mountbatten...
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Not quite so deceased
With characters that have become a mainstay in Maltese living rooms, the Deċeduti series has claimed a stronghold in local culture and earned many fans. Rachel Agius speaks to the creators of the show about the upcoming full-length film Deċeduti:...
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What’s behind the end of the world
According to the Mayan Calendar, the world will come to an end on Friday, December 21, 2012. The end of the world has been a much debated topic lately. To get more insight on the subject, Marika Tabone spoke to George Tabone, who has studied the...
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Fort Verdala’s connection with Pakistan’s Navy
The Royal Navy has had a strong connection with Malta since even before Sir Alexander Ball anchored HMS Alexander off Gozo in October 1798. Many of the exploits concerning the Royal Navy and its presence in Malta are well documented, but for some...
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Manuel Dimech’s voice from exile
Most of us would relate exile to ideas of forsakenness, desertion and abandonment. Perhaps frozen gulags come to mind, or desert concentration camps. Exile might evoke images of exhausted, dead-beat people in tatters, walking about like ghosts,...
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From clockwork cameras to international acclaim
Celebrating the 50th Golden Knight Malta International Film Festival between today and tomorrow, film veteran John Dacoutros traces the 60-year history of the Malta Cine Circle. On a spring afternoon in 1952, four young friends with 8mm clockwork...
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Siege of Malta lifted in November 1942
The first day of November 1942 started with a scramble at 12.05pm by four Spitfires of No. 1435 Squadron to investigate a raid which did not materialise. In North Africa, as the British Eighth Army at last had broken through during the Second...
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From trash to treasure
Fifteen Nepali artists were closeted for a month with a heap of 1.5 tonnes of trash picked up from Mount Everest. When they emerged, they had transformed the litter into art. The 75 sculptures, including one of a yak and another of wind chimes, were...
