Harry Mount

When John Lennon took on Barry Humphries

17 February 2024 9:00 am

Barry Humphries would have been 90 on 17 February. To commemorate his life, Radio 4 is broadcasting Barry Humphries: Gloriously…

The grim life of a Roman legionary

3 February 2024 9:00 am

Over the heather the wet wind blows, I’ve lice in my tunic and a cold in my nose. The rain…

Starmer is wrong to defend the National Trust

22 January 2024 10:43 pm

Keir Starmer is drawing up his battle-lines for the next election. First, he came for the public schools, pledging to…

The joy of an archive

2 December 2023 9:00 am

In defence of Eton’s Provost

7 October 2023 5:00 pm

The world divides into two groups. Those who liked school and those who didn’t. Sir Nicholas Coleridge, the next Provost of…

Women are obsessed with the Romans, too

7 October 2023 9:00 am

It’s not only men who are obsessed with the Romans

Gentle genius

7 October 2023 9:00 am

Dissatisfied with his unfinished epic, the dying Vergil called for his scrolls to be burned, but was fortunately overruled by the Emperor Augustus

Why some men are obsessed with the Roman Empire

17 September 2023 2:00 am

Why do men think about the Roman Empire so much? That’s the subject of a new social media trend, where…

‘She had no neutral gear’: Lindy Dufferin remembered

5 August 2023 9:00 am

In 1957, when my dear godmother, the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava (1941-2020), was 16, she began her diary. The…

The lewdness and lyricism of ancient Roman graffiti

1 July 2023 9:00 am

The lewdness and lyricism of ancient Roman graffiti

Fellowship of the Lamb: how we’re saving Tolkien’s pub

8 October 2022 9:00 am

How a group of regulars are saving Tolkien’s pub

Who is David Sherborne, libel lawyer to the stars?

20 May 2022 12:15 am

If you’re a celeb with a burning grievance, the hottest place in town is an unassuming, Georgian terraced house in…

The problem with rewilding

6 January 2022 10:30 pm

The government has gone wild. Under new plans, just announced by Environment Secretary George Eustice, farmers and landowners in England could…

The battle for the soul of the National Trust

31 October 2021 9:14 pm

Yesterday, at the Trust’s AGM, Restore Trust – the body which wants to stop the dumbing-down and politicisation of the…

Why is the National Trust waging war against its members?

15 October 2021 5:58 am

The National Trust culture war has just stepped up a gear. Ahead of the Trust’s AGM on 30 October, the…

End of the line: it’s time to rethink the queue

25 September 2021 9:00 am

It’s time to rethink the queue

The strange allure of double agents

12 August 2021 5:30 am

John le Carré, the master of British spy stories, may have died last December, aged 89. But the dastardly world…

They weren’t all that pious in the good old days

31 July 2021 9:00 am

You need to be wary of being too flattering about English churches. As John Betjeman said: ‘Be careful before you…

In our narcissistic age, nothing beats good manners

29 May 2021 9:00 am

Why rudeness doesn’t pay

The truth about Prince Philip's 'gaffes'

9 April 2021 11:55 pm

However impressive Prince Philip was in photographs, it didn’t compare to his imposing bearing in the flesh. When I met…

The tragic demise of the National Trust

7 April 2021 1:55 am

And so the National Trust’s crazed attack on its own properties goes blazing on. Their latest self-hating wheeze is to…

Why is the National Trust so determined to lecture its members?

16 December 2020 10:42 pm

Can the National Trust dumb down any further? Its latest crazed venture, the Colonial Countryside project, is ‘a child-led history…

Covid has become the go-to excuse for shoddy service

24 October 2020 9:00 am

Covid has become a get-out clause for shoddy service

presidents

Their Majesties the Presidents

17 October 2020 8:51 am

For anyone who’s a little bit worried about the current state of the Union, Andrew Gimson’s book is a godsend.…

The rise of the Econian

1 August 2020 9:00 am

The public school elite who rule the wokerati