Smash Hit

Adults and their new childish obsessions

From watching Up and Fantastic Mr Fox to playing with iPhone applications, grown-ups aren't acting their age any more

I don’t give a monkey’s...

...if people want Another One Bites the Dust played at their funeral

Holy cow, what’s Chrissie’s beef?

The Pretenders’ lead singer is back on the milk run, explaining why dairy cattle should be at the centre of all our lives

The Wholly Grayling: on science

No wars have been fought over theories in zoology or chemistry

How do you want to die?

Why do we always avoid the subject? We would all enjoy life more if we broke the taboo and prepared fully for our demise

Celebrity watch: Barrymore’s new leaf

Who’s up and who’s down in Celebrity Watch, the barometer of fickle fame. This week, Michael Barrymore's new life

Why write to a killer on death row?

Nearly 3,000 Britons, mostly female, are penpals with men awaiting execution. Our writer finds out what drives them

Tonight’s the night: bonfires and fireworks

Five Times writers pick the best places to see the fireworks, and we predict whose effigies they will be burning

The growing power of speechwriting

In an age when a single speech can make or break a political career, speechwriting has become a global moneyspinner

The rise of Japan’s 'girlie men'

Forget the salarymen, Japan's new 'herbivore' generation of males believe that life is far more important than work

Welcome to the wasp that you named Giacometti

How an artist from North London named a new species of wasp after the Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti

Take it from an expert: the online retailer

in recent years the net has become a fantastic comparison tool and it benefits both online shopping and the high street

Why Germany can’t get over the Wall

Twenty years after the Wall came down, an author says that the Stasi may have lost the Cold War, but they still prevail

A life online: it's just a joke isn't it?

The internet is rife with throwaway ideas that get proportionally funnier the more people repeat them

The night the Wall came down

The photographer Robert Wallis was in Berlin by chance on November 9, 1989. Here he shares his pictures and memories

Timeline: 50 years in Berlin

A look at key moments in the political, cultural and sporting history of one of Europe's most vibrant capital cities

The story behind the picture

Bald eagles, Alaska, 2008