See no evil
When I was at university, Reggie Kray was my penpal. I wrote to him in 1991, asking for an interview…
On the way to the Forum
It’s strange that tourists rarely visit the most famous site in Roman history. The spot in Pompey’s assembly hall where…
Antigua
‘Tourism, tourism and tourism,’ said my Antiguan cab driver, when I asked what the country’s main industries were. Still, it’s…
Antigua
‘Tourism, tourism and tourism,’ said my Antiguan cab driver, when I asked what the country’s main industries were. Still, it’s…
Greece Notebook
At the weekend, I tried — and failed — to get some money out of an empty cashpoint near Omonia…
A letter from Harper Lee
Avoiding publicity doesn’t stop her being sharp-eyed, curious and impeccably well-mannered. I have the evidence
Greece’s crisis turns to tragedy
Its people face an uncertain and frightening future
Two wheels good
Bicycles — in Britain, anyway — are the Marmite means of transport. I am among the bicycle-lovers, almost religious and…
Diary
I never knew classicists could be so scary! Last week I wrote a Telegraph article saying classics exams had been…
Impressionist Paris
The spectre of the Charlie Hebdo killings still hangs over Paris. Outside the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, opposite the…
Impressionist Paris
The spectre of the Charlie Hebdo killings still hangs over Paris. Outside the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, opposite the…
Fame and scandal in the family
The first Marquess of Dufferin and Ava is largely forgotten today — rotten luck for the great diplomat of the…
All in the worst possible taste
In the giftshop at the new Elvis exhibition at the Dome, you can buy your own version of his flared…
Sworn out
The advertising industry is obsessed with innuendo and dirty words
Signs of contempt
Why do we ruin beautiful places to make them appeal to those who’ll never visit anyway?
The Alps
For a melancholy example of the power of celebrity, head to the Alps. Since Michael Schumacher’s accident last December in…
Death to hipsters
Take heart: the age of the stupid beard is coming to an end
Corsica
Napoleon’s birthplace, Casa Buona-parte, in Ajaccio, Corsica’s capital, is pretty grand. It has high ceilings, generous, silk-lined rooms and a…
Boris jumps in
The next Tory leadership battle has just begun
The end of estate agents
The internet can – and should – bring it about
Not many good jokes on the way to the forum
At the beginning of The Art of Poetry, Horace tells a story that, he promises, will make anyone laugh: ‘If…
Mastering a dead language…
The wisest words about learning Latin were said by that gifted prep-school boy, Nigel Molesworth: ‘Actually, it is quite easy…
Hanoverian trail
The 300th anniversary of George I coming to the British throne on 1 August 1714 is big news in his…
Cash for class
What money can buy in the modern British establishment
Stop that cab!
It’s time to end the archaic privileges of London taxi drivers
