News about Charles Laughton

EXCLUSIVE: Last year, Britannia was named the UK's worst large hotel chain by Which? for the 11th year in a row. Ahead of the summer holidays, MailOnline visited five coastal Britannia hotels to see what residents living in the shadow of the hated chain's impressive property portfolio thought of their stewardship.

BRIAN VINER: If I compiled my list again today, I still wouldn't have space for The Italian Job, Forrest Gump, The Great Escape, or Titanic, which all of which encouraged readers to write in. By the way, that doesn't mean I don't like or even love those photos (although not Titanic), which makes me wish the iceberg would strike a bit sooner). Here is a list of the Top 20 movies you should have included in my Top 100 list, as well as your reasons for... The Shawshank Redemption (left), Mary Poppins (right), and Saving Private Ryan (inset).

Here are 100 films that I believe every person should see at least once in their lifetime, and all of them should make you laugh, cry, gasp, or think. In some instances, perhaps all four are present. I hope my list would bring you some good cinematic treats, or better still, introduce you to them. Happy viewing!

And lo, on the ninth day of a positive lateral flow, I took a test and was negative, and I was glad to go to the store to buy some cheese at last. All things being said, it hasn't been a vintage Christmas. We were unable to visit my mother the first week due to a testing positive for Covid, but instead we were confined to barracks, both my husband and I were suffering from the symptoms. On Boxing Day, I finally got it together enough to make a ham with potatoes and whip up a cauliflower cheese, but I was so ill from the effort that I could barely eat it. Presents were postponed until the 27th of October. Our halls have been decorated not with boughs of holly but with boxes of tissues and bottles of cough medicine.

A gluttonous and uncouth ruler with a limitless libido? That's the popular picture of Henry VIII. However, it's wrong, according to author and historian Alison Weir, and we should place the blame on actor Charles Laughton and his notorious portrayal of the king in the 1930s film The Private Life of Henry VIII. Laughton takes from a tankard, nibs on roast chicken, and proclaims: 'Refinement's a thing of the past,' at one point in the film, directed by Alexander Korda. Manners are dead,' says the narrator.' However, Weir told the Hay Literary Festival that Henry was a refined, cultivated, and occasionally prudish man.