Spring getaways sit in a particularly sweet spot on the travel calendar. Beach trips in the summer may get the glory, sure, but a spring escape has its quiet advantages. Cities aren’t overwhelmingly packed with tourist crowds, sun-drenched destinations are warm without tipping into sweltering and for those favouring outdoors adventures, you’ll witness nature in bloom.

In 1976, the BBC visited British painter David Hockney at his studio for an edition of cultural magazine show The Book Programme. The segment opens with the artist and a colleague discussing plans for a new work, soundtracked by a clipped, RP voice-over. “Hockney dyes his hair yellow and wears gig lamps,” the voice says. “A treat, really, since these days painters seem to look like anyone else.”

At last night’s Academy Awards there was glitz, there was glamour, there was no sign of Sean Penn (too busy smoking), and Sinners and One Battle After Another were the big winners (sorry Timothée). There were also some standout looks from Hollywood’s leading men – Best Actor nominee Leonardo DiCaprio showed up sporting a fancy little moustache. Shades of ivory and champagne appeared to be a theme, including a few brave all-white attempts and a touch of pastel velvet, along with brooches, big trousers and floppy bow ties, or no bow ties at all.

Oscar nominations always provoke hot debate and outrage in the WhatsApp groups of cinephiles. This year, that discourse seemed to focus around whether Sinners – up for 16 gongs – could destroy the story of the much-hyped Marty Supreme (up for nine). And with it, redemption for Timothée Chalamet, after a perceived slight last year when he missed out on Best Actor for A Complete Unknown to Adrian Brody for The Brutalist.

Spring getaways sit in a particularly sweet spot on the travel calendar. Beach trips in the summer may get the glory, sure, but a spring escape has its quiet advantages. Cities aren’t overwhelmingly packed with tourist crowds, sun-drenched destinations are warm without tipping into sweltering and for those favouring outdoors adventures, you’ll witness nature in bloom.

In 1976, the BBC visited British painter David Hockney at his studio for an edition of cultural magazine show The Book Programme. The segment opens with the artist and a colleague discussing plans for a new work, soundtracked by a clipped, RP voice-over. “Hockney dyes his hair yellow and wears gig lamps,” the voice says. “A treat, really, since these days painters seem to look like anyone else.”