Reader's Digest UK

The great neurologist Oliver Sacks described music as “a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear”. It has the power to lift us from depression, move us to tears or just take us out of ourselves for a while, and it’s at the heart of this month’s issue. On p42, we meet people for whom music is not just a luxury—it’s a necessity. From managing movement disorders to making peace with complex emotions, it’s an irreplaceable aid in their everyday life—and there’s growing medical research to back it up. Ever thought of combining music with one of life’s other great pleasures—travel? Turn to p104 for inspiration, where we round up some of the most wonderful classical music festivals in Europe. From mountains to lakes, via grand palaces and ancient ruins,…

We pay £50 for Letter of the Month and £30 for all others LETTER OF THE MONTH THE POWER OF FILM Thank you, Reader’s Digest for the article “Steven Spielberg: How I Caught My Mother’s Affair On Camera” by Jonathan Dean. I grew up in America during the 1950s and 1960s and Spielberg’s films have always resonated with me. As a child I loved dinosaurs and reading about fossils so when Jurassic Park came out, I was first in the queue at the cinema. When they got out of the car and walked across to those dinosaurs it was like I was walking with them, as old as I was I could still feel the magic of dinosaurs as I had when I was a child. Some of Spielberg’s movies I have only been able…

Whether you’re a seasoned poet or just getting started, we’d love to see your work! Faeries by Kay Jackson, Devon Covered in featherdown in a mossy bank deepThe Faery awakes from her long winter sleepShe turns her face to the warm spring sunShe gazes at spiders’ webs finely spun. Other faeries awaken tooThey stretch and yawn, yet there’s so much to doPrimroses to pick, to make into spring wineWild fungi to find, on which to dine. But first they have a ritual they perform every springThey take a ride on a seagull as he spreads his wingHe soars so high over the fields to the seaThe faeries shriek with delight at the view they can see. They bring with them their magic in a faery dust sackWhich they all clutch tightly, balanced on the gull’s…

HAVE YOU EVER found yourself stuck in a food loop? I have, and it’s very dispiriting. I realise there are worse things in life to be stuck in—lifts, tenancies, sewage—but, if you take plenty of pleasure in food, as I do, then coming to terms with the fact that you are often only eating what you are eating thanks to sheer lack of imagination can be really quite sobering. Let’s turn a blind eye to breakfast. I mean, I’m busy: I’ve got two young kids to get uniformed up, teeth brushed, stuffed with cornflakes and out the door; a puppy, cat, chickens and goldfish to feed; news bulletins to catch up on, showers to take, caffeine to imbibe. It’s a wonder I manage to consume anything at all in the mornings—so I’m content…

IN A SUITE in Paris’ Hotel du Collectionneur, Léa Seydoux is quietly unpacking her extraordinary career. Since bursting onto screens well over a decade ago, this talented, elegant actor has graced everything from Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and The French Dispatch to James Bond films Spectre and No Time to Die, playing Madeleine Swann, the woman who captured the heart of Daniel Craig’s 007. “I feel very happy,” she shrugs. “I just go with the flow.” If this sounds laissez-faire, Seydoux is not someone who takes her position of privilege for granted. “I have to pinch myself,” she admits. It’s an understandable sentiment. While many French stars don’t conquer the international film circuit, the 37-year-old Seydoux is a rare exception. Even before her international breakthrough, 2013’s intense same-sex love…

MUM ARRIVED IN THE UK IN 1951 AS PART OF THE WINDRUSH GENERATION. Marion, or Mavis as she became known, was born in October 1930, in a small village called Alligator Pond, in the parish of St Elizabeth, Jamaica. In December 1951, at the age of 21, Mum flew from her native Jamaica to Canada, then boarded a boat to the UK. DAD, RONNIE PRITCHARD, WAS A WHITE LOCAL EAST END BOY WHO STARTED OUT AS A BUILDER. In the Fifties, he started delivering paraffin to West Indian customers, becoming friends with many. One of Dad’s new friends was a Jamaican called Bill Hill. Bill, something of a rogue, had the ambition to create the first Caribbean nightclub in London. Racism was rife in those days, so Dad agreed to help…