Notes on…
In defence of celebrity rosé
Alan Watkins, the late parliamentary sketch writer, told a story about his time on the Sunday Express in the 1960s.…
The joy of liquorice
‘I’ll swap you two of my rolls for three of your spogs.’ That was the sort of thing you’d hear…
Americans will never understand Marmite
‘I fucking hate Marmite,’ said Andy McLeod, a young ad man who at some point in the mid-1990s was tasked…
A journey to the dark side of the Moon
The climax of the Artemis II mission lasted just a few hours. The capsule, named Integrity, rounded the Moon, the…
Who would ever run a marathon?
Like many good ideas, the London marathon was conceived over a drink in a pub. Inspired by their experience running…
Potatoes are one of life’s great simple pleasures
My wife found the list in the back pocket of my gardening trousers. That ought to have been a clue,…
The dying art of the kimono
‘The road was frozen… Komako hitched up the skirt of her kimono and tucked it into her obi [broad sash].…
My phobia is not to be sneezed at
In January 1894, an assistant of Thomas Edison made a five-second silent film of Fred Ott taking snuff and then…
Could your 50p coin be worth much more?
‘I have not found anybody yet who has a good word to say for the new coin,’ Sir Douglas Glover…
‘It was making me think like a Latin American dictator’: why my moustache had to go
Iloved my moustache. Unfortunately, my fondness for it seemed inversely proportionate to its popularity among my peers. After much unsolicited…
Europeans love offal – why don’t we?
The British used to love offal but now we tend to be a bit wimpy about it, unlike the French…
The horror of the male wig
Horrible injuries are commonplace in boxing but none, surely, has been quite so devastating as that sustained by the heavyweight…
What Freud would say about your teddy bear
It is widely known that when a Duke of York is down, he is down, and the recent hit-piece in…
How we all got hooked on Calpol
At the present count, we have 14 syringes. Some are stuffed in kitchen drawers, but I have also found an…
Heaven is an Airfix Spitfire
Last weekend, I sat in my kitchen to build and paint an Airfix model. I’d experimented before with mindful colouring…
The politics of long hair
What is the literal cut-off point for women having very long hair (and by ‘long’ I mean where it almost…
Make mine a Moka pot
It’s strange the things that can trigger amity or affection. At the beginning of the capsule/pod coffee-maker craze, when George…
Make mine a BuzzBallz
There are always new ways for drinks companies to make alcohol seem even more exciting. Smirnoff has added gold leaf…
Washing up is an artform
Right, who’s doing the washing up? It’s 6 p.m. on Christmas Day and the table, which was meticulously set for…
The art of the party trick
I’ve decided I need a party trick. This thought occurred to me at a recent dinner party as I watched…
Why are we so suspicious of magpies?
I started counting magpies during my brief, doomed time as a history teacher. Trudging in every morning, the grim prospect…
How the hyphen turned political
When Buckingham Palace announced that its errant prince, Andrew, would be known as boring old Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, some surprise…
How Browns lost the battle of the brasseries
Last month, the founder of the Browns restaurant chain was charged with killing his mother. Shocking news, but it feels…
How not to train a truffle dog
For the first time in decades, King Charles has a new pet dog, a lagotto Romagnolo called Snuff. Queen Camilla…
How the Northern line brought T.E. Lawrence to The Spectator
If only the Northern line could get its act together. Last week saw further buffing of its reputation as the…
