His Church is assailed on all sides, its role in the modern world in question like never before. Is Pope Francis the man to meet the challenge?

Sophia Deboick on the fascinating story of the star’s often self-destructive obsession with the US, 50 years after the release of the foreboding album which marked its beginning.

50 years ago, Black Sabbath released two albums that created a brand new sound.

Sophia Deboick on Lucky Dube, the South African reggae star who made his life a mission, until it was cut tragically short.

The Lost Pianos of Siberia, by Sophy Roberts. London, Doubleday, 2020. 448pp., £18.99

Phil Spector was responsible for one of the greatest Christmas records ever made. Sophia Deboick tells the story and asks if we must reassess it in the light of his later murder conviction.

Published amid the Mueller report fallout, Dorian Lynskey’s The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell’s 1984 (Picador) deftly reveals the grim contemporary relevance of Orwell’s masterpiece, exploring its influences and cultural impact while also bringing the flesh and blood author out from the novel’s shadow.

Released 40 years ago and now the subject of its own exhibition, The Clash’s London Calling simultaneously paid tribute to rock ‘n’ roll and took an iconoclast’s hammer to it.

Fifty years after its release, Sophia Deboick revisits a movie classic and finds a sometimes troubling film that is often misrepresented.

Sophia Deboick looks back at a brief period in musical history when English eccentricity and experimentalism combined to spectacular effect.