Homer Simpson meets Homer
Milan Kundera has said that Homer’s Odyssey was the first novel. I’m not so sure — the verse kind of…
Algy Cluff on Margaret Thatcher, Robert Mugabe and Brexit
Algy Cluff is the longest-serving oilman in the North Sea. He was one of the first to drill for oil…
The British are leaders in graphic novels so why do we not take the art form more seriously?
Art Spiegelman, the American cartoonist behind Maus, the celebrated Holocaust cartoon, dreamt up a good definition of graphic novels: comics…
The holy relics of the Easter Rising: from hallowed flags to rebel biscuits
This is the first exhibition I’ve been to where the Prime Minister joined the hacks at the press view. A…
Justin Trudeau has his mother’s looks – and his father’s dodgy economics
Quebec City Canada is about to hit a new high. If the supercute 44-year-old prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has…
Boris and Dave’s schoolboy rivalry is journalistic wishful thinking
The Prime Minister is pretty angry with Boris. But the idea that they’ve competed with each other since school is…
Why the British make a virtue of defeat
When Henry Worsley died last month attempting the first solo, unaided expedition across the Antarctic, he was 30 miles short…
The history of London through its parish churches
John Betjeman, the patron saint of English parish churches, once warned against praising British buildings too much. Be careful before…
The secret brilliance of Prince Philip’s ‘gaffes’
I’ve just been on the receiving end of a Prince Philip gaffe, of sorts, and I loved it. It was…
Corbyn's purge of the Oxbridge set
Labour was once the clever party. Under Jeremy Corbyn, its front bench is purged of Oxbridge intellectuals
Adventures on the isle that seduced Odysseus
Gozo — Malta’s tiny island neighbour — was once rather a crucial spot in the Mediterranean. The Knights of Malta…
Celebrating the red dawn among the Corbynistas of north London
‘Jeremy Corbyn night’ at the Forum in Kentish Town on Monday should have been a scene of orgiastic pleasure for…
I was Reggie Kray's penpal
When I was at university, Reggie Kray was my penpal. I wrote to him in 1991, asking for an interview…
Augustus: here was a Caesar! Or at least his great-nephew
It’s strange that tourists rarely visit the most famous site in Roman history. The spot in Pompey’s assembly hall where…
Escape Antigua’s tourists (but be ready to confront some grim secrets)
‘Tourism, tourism and tourism,’ said my Antiguan cab driver, when I asked what the country’s main industries were. Still, it’s…
Please come on holiday to poor, broken Greece. It needs you
At the weekend, I tried — and failed — to get some money out of an empty cashpoint near Omonia…
My letter from Harper Lee
Who knows whether Harper Lee, now 89, has given permission for her novel, Go Set a Watchman, to be published…
'We need a new word for crisis': the view from Athens
Athens On Sunday night, a protest in favour of staying in the euro gathered in Syntagma Square, in front of…
Bicycling: the Marmite means of transport
Bicycles — in Britain, anyway — are the Marmite means of transport. I am among the bicycle-lovers, almost religious and…
Harry Mount’s diary: Class war with classicists and wisdom from Brian Sewell
I never knew classicists could be so scary! Last week I wrote a Telegraph article saying classics exams had been…
Seeing Paris through Impressionist eyes
The spectre of the Charlie Hebdo killings still hangs over Paris. Outside the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, opposite the…
The first Lord Dufferin: the eclipse of a most eminent Victorian
The first Marquess of Dufferin and Ava is largely forgotten today — rotten luck for the great diplomat of the…
Don’t mock Elvis’s style - he was ahead of the curve
In the giftshop at the new Elvis exhibition at the Dome, you can buy your own version of his flared…
When did the advertising industry get so obsessed with swearing and innuendo?
When did the advertising industry decide that swearing sells? Look around you, and you’ll start to see rude, unfunny double…
The National Trust is spoiling beautiful places in the name of people who’ll never visit them
Broadhaven Beach in Pembrokeshire was once a sublime combination of the works of nature and man. The broad, deep, sandy…
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