Top of the weekend to you all. Among my learnings this week: there’s an “Australian” dog that isn’t Australian, and Pat Cummins still rules. But the really great reads are below, off you go then.
1. Keep waking in the middle of the night to pee?
We don’t need a show of hands, but rest assured – I see you. And it’s not just the more, ahem, experienced humans who experience nocturia. A recent US study found 32% of over-20s had to wake up to urinate twice or more in the night – and Netflix and chill may shoulder some of the blame.
Possible solutions: David Cox checks in with plenty of professionals, but this reader below the line has some useful advice: “Urinate twice before you go to sleep. Go once after you clean your teeth, then read for half an hour, then go again. Works for me.”
How long will it take to read: Four minutes.
2. I am Nolan, destroyer of Oscars rivals
Winning Academy Awards is all about memorable performances and movie magic, right? Well, not quite. Campaigning is as fierce as any presidential election, but you have to be careful not to overdo it.
According to one Hollywood PR exec, Cate Blanchett campaigned so hard ahead of last year’s ceremony voters were sick of the sight of her by March. Andrew Pulver writes that Oppenheimer was a slow awards season burn thanks to some deft use of the film’s director, Christopher Nolan. Here’s how it scooped seven Oscars.
The ‘it’s time’ factor: Cannot be overstated. Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese had made 15 and 20 films respectively before they won best director. Nolan has made 12.
How long will it take to read: About 176 minutes less than watching the film.
3. The secret life of the celebrity ghost writer
Spoiler alert: those celebrity memoirs you see lined up in your local bookstore may not be what they seem. Turns out ghost writers do the heavy lifting on many of them. Liam Pieper, professional ghost writer, reveals all (but refuses to name names).
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“My therapist suggested I have a tendency to over-narrativise my problems and that I should try to live in the moment more. They mentioned a book I should read … I wrote it a few years back.” – Liam Pieper, oft uncredited author.
How long will it take to read: Two minutes.
4. How Norway became an electric car superpower
When you think of Norwegian pop group a-ha you’re probably already hearing that synth line from Take On Me, possibly recalling their somewhat less exhilarating Bond theme.
Two of the group’s members were also electric car pioneers in their homeland, driving a battery-operated Fiat on toll roads around Oslo without paying as an act of civil disobedience in 1989. Their argument? “It was a non-polluting car, so it shouldn’t pay,” recalls Harald Nils Røstvik, fellow protester and EV evangelist.
Thirty-five years later, almost 25% of cars in Norway are electric. Sam Wollaston hit the road to map the Scandinavian nation’s journey.
How long will it take to read: Five minutes.
5. The secret, shocking truth about Merchant Ivory
Ismail Merchant and James Ivory’s films were sumptuously designed, beautifully lensed, wonderfully acted – and absolutely horrendous to work on. “[Emma] Thompson had a huge fight with Ismail on Howards End,” says Stephen Soucy, director of a new documentary about the film-makers, “because she’d been working for 13 days in a row, and he tried to cancel her weekend off”.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as Ryan Gilbey discovers.
Lowkey advocates for gay representation: Ivory’s most notable recent achievement is his Oscar-winning script for Call Me By Your Name. And the duo, whose sexuality was never discussed publicly, released the gay love story Maurice at the height of the Aids crisis.
How long will it take to read: Four minutes.
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