Until last week, I had never given a five-star rating to any TV or radio programme. But Channel 4’s Homeland was a thriller of such quality, such impressive characterisation and complexity that I felt it merited the accolade.

After last year’s successful exhibition, Art House returns this year to the London Jewish Cultural Centre. Artists, whether amateur or professional, are invited to submit up to three works. The best of these will be displayed at the LJCC’s home at Ivy House in north London.

I reckon that deep down international theatre producer David King cares about his art.

So, farewell then Adam Yauch. Dead of cancer at 47. Yauch, and his fellow Beastie Boys - Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz - comprised one of the biggest rap groups ever. Along with mogul Rick Rubin, co-founder of Def Jam - label home of the Beasties, Run DMC, Jay-Z and Kanye West - they put Jews at the forefront of the genre in its early days.

My mother was Jewish. Her mother was Jewish. And her mother was Jewish. My father was Jewish. His mother was… and so on. Shouldn't this be enough to encourage me to think I'm Jewish? Orthodox Jewry wouldn't think so. Only those, say the Orthodox, who adhere to the prescribed rituals and laws of the Torah can claim the mantle of Jewishness.

When kibbutznik Arieh Sharon bought a book at Breslau train station on his way to architecture school in Berlin in 1925, it changed his life - and the architecture of Israel. For the book introduced Sharon to the new, radical Bauhaus philosophies of architect, Walter Gropius and artist Josef Albers, and inspired him to take the next train to their recently opened school in Dessau.

Britain is in the throes of a full-on love affair with all things Scandinavian, on television, film, and books. From The Killing to the just launched The Bridge, from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo to the gore of author Jo Nesbo, it is simply cool to be - well, cool.

And now Nordic Noir has its very own Jewish hero, in the unlikely figure of a Finnish Jewish police detective, Ariel Kafka.

It all began, appropriately enough, with Abraham. That is the title of Roxanna Panufnik's violin concerto, which she wrote for Daniel Hope to play in 2005, drawing together the various musical flavours of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

There cannot be many 85-year-old Bafta winners who spend their time hanging pictures on walls in renovated basements.

After a £10 million, major redevelopment, and amid national publicity, on March 17 2010, the Jewish Museum London reopened its doors.

Two years on, at the launch of its latest exhibition, No Place Like Home: Photographs by Judah Passow, there is a palpable buzz of excitement. The 150 or so guests are thronging the building, in particular the gallery space where Passow's work is exhibited.

By the age of 17 Piper Laurie had achieved her childhood dreams of movie stardom.

For actor Ilan Goodman there was a tad more than usual to consider while preparing for his role in the UK premiere of Red Light Winter at the Theatre Royal in Bath.

On top of the quick-fire dialogue spoken by his character Matt, a lovelorn writer on the verge of a nervous breakdown; and aside from the rehearsal-room tension of getting naked for the raw and tender sex scenes with his co-star Sal

For actor Ilan Goodman there was a tad more than usual to consider while preparing for his role in the UK premiere of Red Light Winter at the Theatre Royal in Bath.

On top of the quick-fire dialogue spoken by his character Matt, a lovelorn writer on the verge of a nervous breakdown; and aside from the rehearsal-room tension of getting naked for the raw and tender sex scenes with his co-star Sal

When Life magazine wanted an Israeli leader on its front cover, American photographer, Arnold Newman was the first choice to provide the shot. His access and experience made him one of the most important portrait photographers.

In the spring of 1914, the Whitechapel Art Gallery mounted an exhibition displaying the best of the then current trends in art. Such was the richness and variety of the paintings by Jewish artists recently arrived as immigrants, that the gallery devoted a entire section to their work. The reaction of the JC's critic was mixed.

Last year, Paddy Wivell made A Hasidic Guide to Love, Marriage and Finding a Bride which was accused by many in Stamford Hill of fundamentally misrepresenting the community. Now, Wivell is back with the sequel, which takes two of the "characters" from the previous documentary, Gaby and Tikwah Lock, and follows them on a Mediterranean cruise.

This promises to be a busy year for Israeli-born, London-based artist Ori Gersht.

The National Portrait Gallery is celebrating the life and work of the late Lucian Freud by holding a major retrospective of his drawings and paintings, which opened yesterday. Lucian died last summer, aged 88.