Scott Beauchamp, TAC contributor: The strength of the autodidact is the same as any outsider, only amplified by passion: critical perspective. What the self-educated man lacks in polish, convention, ...

Courses are often required, for example, for professional certification. But sometimes you can avoid courses, which are often costly, inconvenient, and larded with masses of material you’ll never use ...

Sir, Dan Fox (“Pretentious — and proud”, Life & Arts, February 6) quotes Billy Bragg’s inaccurate but widely repeated assertions that David Bowie grew up on a council estate and went to art college.

Each week The Sun’s John McIntyre presents a moderately obscure but evocative word with which you may not be familiar — another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary. This week’s word: ...