Books
Mystery and magic
For better or worse, we live in the age of the talking composer. Some talk well, some badly, a few…
A perfect stranger
If I had to be marooned on a desert island with a stranger, that stranger would be John Burnside. Not…
Books and arts
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Original Sin
When first they ushered me into that hall To take my place on a cheap fold-out seat, My eyes clamped…
Original Sin
When first they ushered me into that hall To take my place on a cheap fold-out seat, My eyes clamped…
Books and arts
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Irresistible zing and pizzazz
Philip Hensher on the tragically short life of the ebullient and multi-talented musician, Constant Lambert
Captivated by Karl
If a title works once, the chances are it will work again. Half the punch of Marx’s masterwork is in…
‘Rather like his own ugly duck’
It has long been my habit, when approaching a new biography, to read the account of the subject’s childhood first,…
Back to Blighty
In the world of Jane Gardam’s stories the past is always present, solid and often unwanted and always too big,…
The one who got away with it
Since the passing of Auberon Waugh, there haven’t been many really successful right-wing comedians. The Mayor of London is one.…
The road to bestsellerdom
Christopher Maclehose recalls his dealings with the author of the Flashman novels, George Macdonald Fraser
The road to bestsellerdom
I met George Macdonald Fraser when he was the features editor of the Glasgow Herald. He was a very good…
The road to bestsellerdom
I met George Macdonald Fraser when he was the features editor of the Glasgow Herald. He was a very good…
A guide to life
Adam Nicolson plunges into Homer’s epic poetry and finds it inexhaustible. Sam Leith feels a touch of envy
A world without colour
Rachel Kelly, a respected former journalist on the Times, might seem the most blessed of women: five children, marriage to…
Seeeing the light
For all would-be novelists whose stumbling block is that they can’t resist describing every single sensation in depth — the…
Italy’s first computer wizard
Personally, I have always been sensitive about a credibility gap, a difference in prestige, between literary and visual cultures. More…
A modern Japanese master
Think haiku, netsuke, moss gardens… Small is beautiful. Japanese art, a scholar of the culture once commented, is great in…
Ruling the waves…
I faltered during the preface to this account of the rise of the female (British) diplomat. Helen McCarthy, a historian…
… and waiving the rules
Jean Trumpington’s memoir, published as she closes in on her 92nd birthday, is an absolute blast from the opening page.…
Books and arts
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With enemies like these…
Rupert Murdoch’s last five years have been the worst of his career, but a new biography by Sydney University’s Rodney Tiffen is so unfair that even Peter Oborne, one of the newspaper magnate’s severest critics, found himself warming to him
Bold history
This is a bold attempt to write the history of Australia in 1,200 pages of narrative. A huge team of…
Radical nationalist
Many of Australia’s former prime ministers have been content to spend their political afterlife stoking the embers of their own…
