Muriel Zagha
@murielzagha.bsky.social
Writer & broadcaster; film specialist – BBC, TLS, ENGELSBERG IDEAS, APOLLO, SPECTATOR and others; Critics’ Circle; French Londoner
Garlic&Pearls podcast
@garlicandpearls.bsky.social
Instagram @murielzaghawriter
http://muckrack.com/muriel-zagha-3
Garlic&Pearls podcast
@garlicandpearls.bsky.social
Instagram @murielzaghawriter
http://muckrack.com/muriel-zagha-3
This week on @garlicandpearls.bsky.social we raise an awkward question: in the land of Descartes and the cult of Reason, why is there such a close connection between FRENCH POLITICIANS AND CLAIRVOYANTS?
@suzanneraine.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/g...
@suzanneraine.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/g...
November 28, 2025 at 8:44 AM
This week on @garlicandpearls.bsky.social we raise an awkward question: in the land of Descartes and the cult of Reason, why is there such a close connection between FRENCH POLITICIANS AND CLAIRVOYANTS?
@suzanneraine.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/g...
@suzanneraine.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/g...
My essay on Powell and Pressburger’s I Know Where I’m Going is available on this week’s Spectator Out Loud podcast, in distinguished company and read out in my best broadcasting voice. Tune in and then watch this marvellous film.
#ikwig #mull #powellpressburger #iknowwhereimgoing
#ikwig #mull #powellpressburger #iknowwhereimgoing
November 26, 2025 at 11:28 AM
My essay on Powell and Pressburger’s I Know Where I’m Going is available on this week’s Spectator Out Loud podcast, in distinguished company and read out in my best broadcasting voice. Tune in and then watch this marvellous film.
#ikwig #mull #powellpressburger #iknowwhereimgoing
#ikwig #mull #powellpressburger #iknowwhereimgoing
On @garlicandpearls.bsky.social we ask: where did those 11 days go when the British year was gouged in the 18th century? 🤔 @suzanneraine.bsky.social has the answers! Tune in!
November 25, 2025 at 7:12 PM
On @garlicandpearls.bsky.social we ask: where did those 11 days go when the British year was gouged in the 18th century? 🤔 @suzanneraine.bsky.social has the answers! Tune in!
We at @garlicandpearls.bsky.social - myself and @suzanneraine.bsky.social
are so grateful for all your feedback. We’re very encouraged. Onwards and upwards!
are so grateful for all your feedback. We’re very encouraged. Onwards and upwards!
November 25, 2025 at 9:17 AM
We at @garlicandpearls.bsky.social - myself and @suzanneraine.bsky.social
are so grateful for all your feedback. We’re very encouraged. Onwards and upwards!
are so grateful for all your feedback. We’re very encouraged. Onwards and upwards!
Reposted by Muriel Zagha
Client assessing if a freelancer is well enough to work or not.
Oil on wood.
Michael Sweerts
c1660.
Oil on wood.
Michael Sweerts
c1660.
November 24, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Client assessing if a freelancer is well enough to work or not.
Oil on wood.
Michael Sweerts
c1660.
Oil on wood.
Michael Sweerts
c1660.
Reposted by Muriel Zagha
What a lovely reminder from @murielzagha.bsky.social of my own pilgrimage to Mull. My now husband even proposed to me in the waterfall phone box!
November 22, 2025 at 1:56 PM
What a lovely reminder from @murielzagha.bsky.social of my own pilgrimage to Mull. My now husband even proposed to me in the waterfall phone box!
This week on @garlicandpearls.bsky.social an ASTONISHING account of THE BRITISH TAX YEAR by @suzanneraine.bsky.social
opens a vertiginous crack in time! A story of mathematics and astrology, Popes, bishops and archbishops, Catholicism and the Reformation, and, of course, Acts of Parliament!
opens a vertiginous crack in time! A story of mathematics and astrology, Popes, bishops and archbishops, Catholicism and the Reformation, and, of course, Acts of Parliament!
November 21, 2025 at 11:37 AM
This week on @garlicandpearls.bsky.social an ASTONISHING account of THE BRITISH TAX YEAR by @suzanneraine.bsky.social
opens a vertiginous crack in time! A story of mathematics and astrology, Popes, bishops and archbishops, Catholicism and the Reformation, and, of course, Acts of Parliament!
opens a vertiginous crack in time! A story of mathematics and astrology, Popes, bishops and archbishops, Catholicism and the Reformation, and, of course, Acts of Parliament!
Very interesting discussion last night at St Bartholomew the Great with Fergus Butler-Gallie,
author of Twelve Churches. Opened avenues of thought about sense of place, beauty and imperfection, the importance of the physical, and possible antidotes to online addiction (guilty!).
author of Twelve Churches. Opened avenues of thought about sense of place, beauty and imperfection, the importance of the physical, and possible antidotes to online addiction (guilty!).
November 21, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Very interesting discussion last night at St Bartholomew the Great with Fergus Butler-Gallie,
author of Twelve Churches. Opened avenues of thought about sense of place, beauty and imperfection, the importance of the physical, and possible antidotes to online addiction (guilty!).
author of Twelve Churches. Opened avenues of thought about sense of place, beauty and imperfection, the importance of the physical, and possible antidotes to online addiction (guilty!).
For @thespectator1828.bsky.social I wrote about a pilgrimage to the Western Isles with fellow fans of Powell and Pressburger’s 1945 sophisticated romance I Know Where I’m Going! Monochrome beauty, sense of place, a complex emotional heft - it is at once eerie and comforting - and visual trickery!
November 21, 2025 at 10:21 AM
For @thespectator1828.bsky.social I wrote about a pilgrimage to the Western Isles with fellow fans of Powell and Pressburger’s 1945 sophisticated romance I Know Where I’m Going! Monochrome beauty, sense of place, a complex emotional heft - it is at once eerie and comforting - and visual trickery!
As we prepare to usher in a new cracking episode tomorrow, here’s a regal-looking Agatha Christie in 1962, cutting a 10-year celebration cake for The Mousetrap. Note the cake, shaped like a giant mousetrap - and the dashing use of a sword!
@pennymordaunt.bsky.social
@pennymordaunt.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 10:38 AM
As we prepare to usher in a new cracking episode tomorrow, here’s a regal-looking Agatha Christie in 1962, cutting a 10-year celebration cake for The Mousetrap. Note the cake, shaped like a giant mousetrap - and the dashing use of a sword!
@pennymordaunt.bsky.social
@pennymordaunt.bsky.social
This week on @garlicandpearls.bsky.social it’s the EXTREMELY DRAMATIC second part of our theatrical diptych or face-off. Last week @suzanneraine.bsky.social presented THE MOUSETRAP. My turn to discuss THE BALD PRIMADONNA, Ionesco’s Absurdist success story. How on earth? Link in response post …
November 19, 2025 at 12:59 PM
This week on @garlicandpearls.bsky.social it’s the EXTREMELY DRAMATIC second part of our theatrical diptych or face-off. Last week @suzanneraine.bsky.social presented THE MOUSETRAP. My turn to discuss THE BALD PRIMADONNA, Ionesco’s Absurdist success story. How on earth? Link in response post …
Delighted to have appeared on Times Radio Drive with John Pienaar to discuss a French dating website promoting adultery and what this says about the French. Are we an immoral people? Not entirely! Are we more forgiving of pleasure-seeking lapses? Quite possibly.
November 18, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Delighted to have appeared on Times Radio Drive with John Pienaar to discuss a French dating website promoting adultery and what this says about the French. Are we an immoral people? Not entirely! Are we more forgiving of pleasure-seeking lapses? Quite possibly.
So many lovely reviews of @garlicandpearls.bsky.social coming from our listeners! Suzanne and I are delighted and very grateful. Do keep them coming - it really, really helps!
November 18, 2025 at 2:35 PM
So many lovely reviews of @garlicandpearls.bsky.social coming from our listeners! Suzanne and I are delighted and very grateful. Do keep them coming - it really, really helps!
Reposted by Muriel Zagha
Eleanora of Toledo in a glorious dress, with her son Giovanni de’ Medici. Painted in 1544, by Agnolo Bronzino. He was born OTD in 1503, in Florence.
November 17, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Eleanora of Toledo in a glorious dress, with her son Giovanni de’ Medici. Painted in 1544, by Agnolo Bronzino. He was born OTD in 1503, in Florence.
In the second part of our nail-biting theatrical diptych on THE GREATEST PLAY EVER, I fly the flag for THE BALD PRIMADONNA, the longest running play in France. Tune in and find out how this Absurdist prank bedded into the repertoire, and what it says about 🇫🇷!
@theatre-huchette.bsky.social
@theatre-huchette.bsky.social
November 14, 2025 at 2:03 PM
In the second part of our nail-biting theatrical diptych on THE GREATEST PLAY EVER, I fly the flag for THE BALD PRIMADONNA, the longest running play in France. Tune in and find out how this Absurdist prank bedded into the repertoire, and what it says about 🇫🇷!
@theatre-huchette.bsky.social
@theatre-huchette.bsky.social
Reposted by Muriel Zagha
This is a rather lovely episode, and halfway explains to me why in the post-covid era I was so pleased to go back to the real theatre for the first time by going to see the Mousetrap. It felt ceremonial, as much as anything.
This week on the @garlicandpearls.bsky.social podcast @suzanneraine.bsky.social and I go to the theatre, in the first part of a diptych about the longest-running plays in Britain and in France. First - yes, it’s THE MOUSETRAP!
#themousetrap✨
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/gar…
#themousetrap✨
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/gar…
November 11, 2025 at 9:24 PM
This is a rather lovely episode, and halfway explains to me why in the post-covid era I was so pleased to go back to the real theatre for the first time by going to see the Mousetrap. It felt ceremonial, as much as anything.
Reposted by Muriel Zagha
Studies of his six servants in the 1750s: masterful oil sketch by William Hogarth, who was born on this day in 1697.
November 10, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Studies of his six servants in the 1750s: masterful oil sketch by William Hogarth, who was born on this day in 1697.
Reposted by Muriel Zagha
"Before I worked on the show, I thought I knew exactly what kind of evening it was."
She discovered, instead, that Christie was a deft and perhaps overlooked commentator on postwar class structure.
She discovered, instead, that Christie was a deft and perhaps overlooked commentator on postwar class structure.
Love The Traitors and Only Murders in the Building? Visit The Mousetrap, says bold new director of West End perennial
Ola Ince, who has refreshed Agatha Christie’s record-breaking mystery, suggests ‘we all fancy ourselves as detectives’
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:41 AM
"Before I worked on the show, I thought I knew exactly what kind of evening it was."
She discovered, instead, that Christie was a deft and perhaps overlooked commentator on postwar class structure.
She discovered, instead, that Christie was a deft and perhaps overlooked commentator on postwar class structure.
In the first part of our nail-biting theatrical diptych on THR GREATEST PLAY EVER, @suzanneraine.bsky.social makes a fine case for THE MOUSETRAP, the longest running play in Britain. Tune in and find out about the play, its historical hinterland and meaning about 🇬🇧!
November 10, 2025 at 10:26 AM
In the first part of our nail-biting theatrical diptych on THR GREATEST PLAY EVER, @suzanneraine.bsky.social makes a fine case for THE MOUSETRAP, the longest running play in Britain. Tune in and find out about the play, its historical hinterland and meaning about 🇬🇧!
Reposted by Muriel Zagha
These intimate objects reveal a life more collective, communal and precarious than ours.
✍️ Tiffany Jenkins
✍️ Tiffany Jenkins
Lice combs, vaginal syringes and cesspits: at home in 17th century Holland
The room is dark, the lighting deliberately low. At its centre stands a solitary object: a yellow and green earthenware vessel decorated with biblical symbolism. It’s a fireguard – or ‘curfew’...
www.spectator.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 6:30 PM
These intimate objects reveal a life more collective, communal and precarious than ours.
✍️ Tiffany Jenkins
✍️ Tiffany Jenkins
Reposted by Muriel Zagha
It's thoroughly researched and emphasises how far from cosy Christie's works can be. The Mousetrap is set in a dislocated postwar world in which the class structure has been shaken and there is an air of paranoid watchfulness.
Not so cosy: A podcast on Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap
I came across a new podcast today – Garlic & Pearls – via a really good episode on Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap . It's thoroughly r...
liberalengland.blogspot.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:53 PM
It's thoroughly researched and emphasises how far from cosy Christie's works can be. The Mousetrap is set in a dislocated postwar world in which the class structure has been shaken and there is an air of paranoid watchfulness.
Watched Susan Seidelman’s Desperately Seeking Susan again last night. Wonderful capsule of 1985 New York. The playful script is watertight. In the Magic Club’s dressing room a mannequin with Claudette Colbert’s face indicates the film’s screwball parentage…
November 8, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Watched Susan Seidelman’s Desperately Seeking Susan again last night. Wonderful capsule of 1985 New York. The playful script is watertight. In the Magic Club’s dressing room a mannequin with Claudette Colbert’s face indicates the film’s screwball parentage…
Many thanks, Jonathan, for flagging up @garlicandpearls.bsky.social and the work of myself and my indefatigable co-host @suzanneraine.bsky.social
It's thoroughly researched and emphasises how far from cosy Christie's works can be. The Mousetrap is set in a dislocated postwar world in which the class structure has been shaken and there is an air of paranoid watchfulness.
Not so cosy: A podcast on Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap
I came across a new podcast today – Garlic & Pearls – via a really good episode on Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap . It's thoroughly r...
liberalengland.blogspot.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Many thanks, Jonathan, for flagging up @garlicandpearls.bsky.social and the work of myself and my indefatigable co-host @suzanneraine.bsky.social
Reposted by Muriel Zagha
2/2 Annunciation. Painted in the 1470s at the Pantheon in Rome by Melozzo da Forlì, whose day is today.
November 8, 2025 at 1:33 PM
2/2 Annunciation. Painted in the 1470s at the Pantheon in Rome by Melozzo da Forlì, whose day is today.
Many thanks for this - and for this fascinating background to our Garlic & Pearls episode on THE MOUSETRAP…
You're welcome! I really enjoyed the podcast - it's good to come across one that is so well researched. I'll give you a plug on my blog later.
It happens that I have just written this for Central Bylines.
It happens that I have just written this for Central Bylines.
The forgotten Shropshire tragedy that inspired The Mousetrap
The death of 12-year-old Dennis O’Neill in 1945 shocked Britain and led Agatha Christie to write her famous play The Mousetrap
centralbylines.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Many thanks for this - and for this fascinating background to our Garlic & Pearls episode on THE MOUSETRAP…