In this series of essays, five writers talk about what black and white evokes for them. Writer and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo remembers the lessons she learned from her father as a young girl growing up in Zhejiang province, eastern China. They have stayed with her through her adult life, guiding creative endeavours and personal development, shaping the way that she understands the world.

Five writers talk about what black and white evokes for them. Glyn Maxwell looks at the words on his page and thinks about whether we've all become too black and white, too binary in our digital lives. It's possible that we lost something valuable in the spectrum of grays afforded by analogue.

In this series of essays, five writers talk about what black and white evokes for them. Beginning with something quite tangible, each piece unfolds to tell a story that is deeply personal and also far-reaching.

Broadcaster and GP Farrah Jarral talks about what it means to be fluent in something you don't understand. It all starts with the little sticker that decorated the covers of her teenage CD collection.

Heather Jones explores the deadly symbolism of the Howth Mauser

Nicholas Rankin explores the emergence of the deadly 'force reducer' that is the sniper

John Gallagher duels with the noisy story of guns 300 years ago

Brian DeLay reveals the life & arms deals of the most dangerous man you've never heard of

Catherine Fletcher unveils handguns' explosive Renaissance origin

Simon Heffer continues his highly-authored and deeply-informed exploration of British cinema by viewing five New Wave or so-called "Kitchen Sink" films of the late 1950s and 1960s.

5.Billy Liar

Keith Waterhouse's novel about Billy Fisher was turned into a film, starring Tom Courtenay, in 1963. The story of Billy's real life in a semi somewhere in the West Riding, and his vividly imagined alternative life in Ambrosia, lived to the accompaniment of a brass band, was unlike any film that had come before, but was it tragedy or comedy? Simon Heffer ends his account of the New Wave with this highly contentious film.

Producer: Beaty Rubens.

Simon Heffer continues his highly-authored and deeply-informed exploration of British cinema by viewing five New Wave or so-called "Kitchen Sink" films of the late 1950s and 1960s.

4.This Sporting Life

Simon Heffer examines the powerful film version of how David Storey's novel about Frank Machin, a talented rugby league player, hungry for success and love.