Barry Humphries's alter ego Dame Edna took the U.S. by storm.

Miami - On the first day of her senior year at North Miami Beach senior High School, Naomi Baptiste expected to be greeted by a teacher when she walked into her precalculus class.

In the case of Abbado, his directions were slight - blink and you'd miss them - but exquisitely precise; Fiona Maddocks highlights this minimalism in her perceptive review for the Observer.