On average, people cook no more than two dishes from each cookbook they buy. Why? Because most of the other recipes seem just too daunting.At last, here is the book that answers the questions you always want to ask and solves those frustrating kitchen conundrums - why do some writers tell you to wash and soak rice before cooking while others never mention it? Why won't mince 'brown' the way they tell you? Will an aubergine really taste better if you sweat it with salt first? The au...

SHORTLISTED FOR BEST SPORTS WRITING AT THE 2024 SPORTS BOOK AWARDSIn parks, on downlands and heaths, by motorways, overlooking firths: the racecourses of Britain and Ireland are as various as the people you meet there. Some - Newmarket, Epsom, the Curragh - are rich in history, and among the most celebrated sporting venues in the world; others - Fakenham, Bangor-on-Dee, Perth - offer more modest but no less enjoyable spectacles.Journeying round these course...

Epsom Downs, 3rd May, 1769: a chestnut with a white blaze scorches across the turf towards the finishing post. His four rivals are so far behind him that, in racing terms, they are 'nowhere'.Watching Eclipse is the man who wants to buy him. An adventurer who has made his money through roguery and gambling, Dennis O'Kelly is also the companion of the madam of one of London's most notorious brothels.While O'Kelly is destined to remain an outcast to the racing establishment, h...