Books
Melbourne’s academic ‘Potemkin Village’
While reading this book I was reminded of the great ‘scandal’ among New York’s intelligentsia in 1982 when the then…
Neither saint nor sage
The inventor of ‘doublethink’ was consistently inconsistent in his own political views, says A.N. Wilson. And no fun at all
Exposing the art mafia
‘S is for Spoof.’ There it is on page 86, a full-page reproduction of a Nat Tate drawing, sold at…
Sheer genius
What, one wonders, will John Eliot Gardiner be chiefly remembered for? Perhaps, by many who have worked with him, for…
In Papa’s footsteps
‘In the years since 1961 Hemingway’s reputation as “the outstanding author since the death of Shakespeare” shrank to the extent…
A brainy delight
The Japanese are sometimes said to suffer from ‘outsider person shock’ (gaijin shokku) when travelling abroad. Recently in London we…
Ashes to ashes
‘I cannot describe to you what a curious note of brutality a bomb has,’ said one woman who lived through…
Bertie Wooster in the commentary box
There can be a strong strain of self-parody in even the greatest commentators. When Henry Blofeld describes the progress of…
‘I shall surely sing’
A few weeks ago, I was wandering with a friend around West London when our conversation turned to the reliable…
Clash of the Titans
This is an odd book: interesting, informative, intelligent, but still decidedly odd. It is a history of the Victorian era…
The courage of her convictions
In 2012 a Taleban gunman, infuriated by Malala Yousafzai’s frequent television appearances insisting that girls had a right to education,…
On your marks…
One day there simply won’t be any strange byways of the English language left to write quirky little books about.…
Books and Arts
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Our valued Vatican envoy
In mid-2009, I landed in Italy for an extended break, as it happened, on the day of the L’Aquila earthquake.…
On your marks…
One day there simply won’t be any strange byways of the English language left to write quirky little books about.…
On your marks…
One day there simply won’t be any strange byways of the English language left to write quirky little books about.…
Divinely decadent
With an eye to the blasphemy underlying some of the loveliest Renaissance painting, Honor Clerk will be choosing her Christmas cards more carefully this year
To cull or not to cull?
Lord Arran was responsible for the bill to legalise homosexuality and a bill to protect badgers from gassing and terrier-baiting.…
Six of the best
When one notices the first symptoms of senile dementia (forgetting names, trying to remember the purpose of moving from one…
Tireless tuft-hunting
The novelist David Plante is French-Québécois by ancestry, grew up in a remote Francophone parish in Yankee New England and…
Darkness at dawn
On 12 April 1945 the Berlin Philharmonic gave its last performance. The atmosphere in Germany was apocalyptic, the Allied invasion…
Not endearing, just wince-making
To understand quite how disgruntled the reviews of the latest Bridget Jones diaries have been, you have to recall quite…
Hidden gems
No one watches Antiques Roadshow for the antiques. Instead we’re hanging on the punter’s reaction to his three-grand valuation. ‘It…
Cheering for Shirley
Decent, clever, charming, eloquent, hard-working, conscientious and terribly, terribly nice, Shirley Williams is one of Britain’s best-loved politicians. Mark Peel’s…
Running on sex and chicken nuggets
What makes someone the fastest man on earth? The current tenant of the informal title held by such sporting icons…
