English people

Margaret Thatcher was controversial in her life. As the world contemplated her legacy, a number of musicians who composed songs opposing Thatcher’s time as British prime minister recalled how they felt and the songs they wrote while she was in office.

In movies and TV shows, you need a bad guy. Often, when directors and producers are looking for a bad guy, they look to Jeremy Irons, who’s filled the bill in movies from Reversal of Fortune to the Lion King. His most recent endeavor, Showtime’s The Borgias, returns on Sunday.

Lucas Hnath’s play about Isaac Newton takes a fresh approach to sorting fact from fiction. While telling the tale of the time Isaac Newton supposedly put a needle into the back of his eye, a narrator helps the audience separate sort out what’s real by writing actual facts on a chalkboard.

British punk rocker Joe Strummer made Granada, Spain, a regular stop on his travels and with his band, The Clash. Since inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Granada officials are considering naming a square after the musician.

More than 100 years ago, a London family man decided he wanted to record his family’s holiday get-togethers. But rather than pull out an iPhone, he recorded audio on wax cylinders. Amazingly, those cylinders survived and are now in a London museum.