Pulitzer prize winner David Blight follows his biography of Frederick Douglass with a deep dive into his university’s dark past

In 2019, the Yale historian David Blight won a Pulitzer prize, for his monumental biography of Frederick Douglass. In 2020, Blight was beginning work on his next book, a life of the writer and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson. Then his college president called.

“Peter Salovey called me up, in the depths of Covid, and said: ‘Would you lead, manage and write the history of Yale and slavery?”

SAS Rogue Heroes has metal, Peaky Blinders has PJ Harvey and The Bear has dad rock. We meet the new breed of music overseers whose anachronistic soundtracks are taking TV to thrilling new heights

There was a time, 20 or so years ago, when it seemed as if TV music supervisors were among the most important people when it came to shaping public tastes. There were, as yet, no video or music streaming services, so music featured in a hit show could blow up as a result. One music supervisor – Alexandra Patsavas, whose work included selecting tunes for Grey’s Anatomy – became so influential that Lena Dunham’s Girls featured a storyline in which two characters dreamed of having their lives changed by getting a song approved by her on Grey’s Anatomy, most likely a wispy piece of indie electronica over which a doctor would gaze wistfully into the middle distance while another patient copped it.

While music supervisors may no longer have Patsavas’s power to create new stars through a perfect piece of placement, the work of music supervisors these days is more imaginative than it has ever been, and it can be highlighted in ways it never was before: think how many times you’ve Shazamed something while sitting in front of the TV, or checked Spotify to see if there’s a playlist of the soundtrack. And often, they’re brilliant: try the perfectly judged dad rock of The Bear, or the incredible assemblage of early 1980s Black American music in the crack epidemic drama Snowfall. It helps, too, that a strong needle drop – the moment a featured song begins playing – can be a great promotional tool on social media.

Garai is recognised for The Years and Giant, Oscar-winner Adrien Brody is nominated for his West End debut, while Imelda Staunton gets 14th nod for Hello, Dolly!

• Olivier awards 2025 – complete list of nominations

Romola Garai has been nominated twice in the same category at this year’s Olivier awards, with her performances in The Years and Giant both making the shortlist for best supporting actress. Those two plays have each picked up five nominations, while a revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof at Regent’s Park Open Air theatre leads the Oliviers race with a total of 13 nominations. That tally equals a record set by the musical Hamilton in 2018 for the most nominated show at the Oliviers.

Garai, who has never previously been nominated for an Olivier, received two nods at once when the nominations were announced on Tuesday. She played a Jewish American publishing executive in Mark Rosenblatt’s Giant, which explores author Roald Dahl’s antisemitism and is also up for best new play and best director (Nicholas Hytner). John Lithgow, who starred as Dahl, is nominated for best actor and Elliot Levey is in the running for best supporting actor. Giant ran last year at the Royal Court and will transfer to the West End next month, without Garai in the cast.

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Welcome back, everyone, to the Round of Arsenal, otherwise known as the last-16 of Bigger Cup since the Wenger years, and for us it will always be thus. Pedants will point out that ‘ooooooh, Arsenal weren’t even in Bigger Cup for many years’ and ‘oooooooh, Arsenal actually won their last-16 tie against Porto last season’. It doesn’t matter. This is the Round of Arsenal. Manchester United didn’t always score in injury time under Sir Alex Ferguson. They didn’t even score late goals most of the time. But that didn’t mean that particular watch-tapping, chewing-gumming stoppage time didn’t have a name. And this, so-called Bigger Cup round-of-16, is yours.

Reading your reference to the boy Line-acre (yesterday’s Football Daily) reminded me of your own Big Paper’s commitment to educational furtherment back in 1986 by declining the verb ‘to done great’. I done great, you done great, he done great, we done great, you done great, they done great, the boy Line-acre done great. Halcyon days indeed” – Jack Mignall.

Manchester United are apparently trying to get out of the lease on their London offices. I think that Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe needs to have a rethink. Surely the whole point of United having a London office is to be close to their fan base” – Robert Darby.

I was disappointed that the seemingly interminable riff about the FA Cup ‘losing its magic’ (yesterday’s Football Daily) failed to pose the question: ‘What do you call a magician who has lost his magic?’ Ian, obviously” – Harry Hill Andy Korman.

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Welcome back, everyone, to the Round of Arsenal, otherwise known as the last-16 of Bigger Cup since the Wenger years, and for us it will always be thus. Pedants will point out that ‘ooooooh, Arsenal weren’t even in Bigger Cup for many years’ and ‘oooooooh, Arsenal actually won their last-16 tie against Porto last season’. It doesn’t matter. This is the Round of Arsenal. Manchester United didn’t always score in injury time under Sir Alex Ferguson. They didn’t even score late goals most of the time. But that didn’t mean that particular watch-tapping, chewing-gumming stoppage time didn’t have a name. And this, so-called Bigger Cup round-of-16, is yours.

Reading your reference to the boy Line-acre (yesterday’s Football Daily) reminded me of your own Big Paper’s commitment to educational furtherment back in 1986 by declining the verb ‘to done great’. I done great, you done great, he done great, we done great, you done great, they done great, the boy Line-acre done great. Halcyon days indeed” – Jack Mignall.

Manchester United are apparently trying to get out of the lease on their London offices. I think that Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe needs to have a rethink. Surely the whole point of United having a London office is to be close to their fan base” – Robert Darby.

I was disappointed that the seemingly interminable riff about the FA Cup ‘losing its magic’ (yesterday’s Football Daily) failed to pose the question: ‘What do you call a magician who has lost his magic?’ Ian, obviously” – Harry Hill Andy Korman.