Mary Portas on growing up on the high street

Halcyon Halston days: William Banks-Blaney on the first super-designer

Andrew O'Hagan reads a passage about a firefight in Helmand Province

Simon Schama on Germany's historical relationship with the Jews

Neil Gaiman: Why illustrators need to be good readers

How Miranda Hart joined Call the Midwife

Kazuo Ishiguro on remembering and forgetting in The Buried Giant

Alex Salmond: How the Scottish referendum empowered people

Tenor Ian Bostridge on inspirational pictures and hurdy-gurdy music

Antonia Fraser on books, reading and becoming a writer

Alan Bennett to the reluctant rescue