Dream job: the writer paid to send millions to sleep
With sleep problems on the rise, Phoebe Smith was tasked with writing stories deliberately designed to help people nod off – with the help of Stephen Fry and Joanna Lumley
Can a sleepless night awaken creativity?
Famous insomniacs include William Wordsworth, Emily Brontë, Vladimir Nabokov and Marcel Proust so could there be a positive side to sleeplessness, asks Marina Benjamin
Sofie Hagen and Scottee: ‘Fat should be something you flaunt’
The comedian and her artist-activist friend have teamed up for Hamburger Queen, a beauty pageant that celebrates fatness
How to thrive under pressure: What can stars of the stage teach us about performing in demanding roles?
Know your strengths and eat boiled eggs … how do a musical-theatre star, a ballerina and an opera singer cope with the demands of their roles – and what we can we learn from them?
Sound advice: why rockstars are my guiding light
Therapy helps in a crisis. But when it comes to lessons in life, music has most of the answers, says Ted Kessler
Noel Edmonds’ exercise secret: do it in the dark
The I’m a Celebrity star has surprised viewers with his toned torso, but is it really down to the mysterious power of his nocturnal exertions?
Bill Bailey: ‘As a parent, I’m constantly suggesting some physical activity’
The actor and comedian on birdwatching, taking naps and gaming with his son
Reasons to Stay Alive: how the suicidal Ibiza rave memoir became an album
Matt Haig’s powerful self-help book was a lifeline for Andy Burrows, one-time drummer with Razorlight. Now, with a little help from Kate Hudson, the two men have turned it into music
Matt Haig: ‘I wanted to end it all, but surviving and thriving is the lesson I pass on’
At 24, he wanted to kill himself. Now a novelist, he teaches the readers of his books – and his children – how to get through when the future looks bleak
True pleasure is a play without an interval
Give me, uninterrupted, a new world for the evening, a performance that changes my mood and my mind