Good Weekend

Abba fans await the band's arrival at Sydney's Sebel Townhouse in February 1977.

ABBA in Australia: the true story

In 1976, more of us watched an Abba-in-Australia TV special than had viewed the moon landing. A year later, the band's tour sparked a nationwide fan frenzy. What exactly fuelled our unparalleled infatuation with four Swedish songsters?

Neil Gaiman: "I wasn't as good as me when I started," he tells an aspiring novelist.

Back to black

  Neil Gaiman was born Jewish, raised a Scientologist and educated by the Church of England. The perfect background for a fantasy writer?

The author in 1973, aged 15, when she held a secret hope of "becoming as beautiful as my mother, thereby gaining my ...

Love triangle

  The journalist appeared to have a privileged upbringing, but it couldn't shield her from the traumatic intensity of her parents' expectations.

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UPFRONT

Top executive Kirstine Stewart.

Kirstine Stewart

Shy. Hesitant to speak out. A good listener. Not the usual qualities of a top exec, but this one likes to lead the way.

A brown leather whip reminded me of the life my childhood had picked for me.

A whip

Objects have little weight to me, yet when my father died, I the only memory I asked for was his stockwhip.

Benjamin Law.

Naked art

ASK YOURSELF: when was the last time you were naked that didn't involve showering, sleeping or having sex? 

FOOD

Boiled octopus with potatoes.

Italian-style lunch

Italian food thrives on tried and trusted flavour combos, like octopus and potatoes, or meatballs and tomato sauce.

Illustration by Simon Letch.

Up in arms

Octopus tentacle: how did something that's the stuff of horror movies become so desirable?

Bodega 1904.

Sydney's Bodega 1904

Sally Webb visits the latest venture at the restored Tramsheds in Forest Lodge.

LIVING

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