Notes on…
The Victoria and Albert
Thomas Hardy, while still married to his first wife Emma, but arranging assignations in London with Florence, his second-wife-to-be, used…
London’s lost rivers
I found my first of London’s many lost rivers when I walked across Holborn Viaduct, looked down at the sweep…
London’s lost rivers
I found my first of London’s many lost rivers when I walked across Holborn Viaduct, looked down at the sweep…
The Douro Valley
They’re called quintas, Joana tells us, because the rich families who owned the land along this stretch of the Douro…
Bare ruined choirs
We’re so used to looking at the abbeys smashed up by Henry VIII — particularly Rievaulx and Byland, in north…
Bare ruined choirs
We’re so used to looking at the abbeys smashed up by Henry VIII — particularly Rievaulx and Byland, in north…
Mussolini at Lake Como
If your destiny is to be shot dead with your mistress, where better than Lake Como, which, in the words…
Mussolini at Lake Como
If your destiny is to be shot dead with your mistress, where better than Lake Como, which, in the words…
Peggy Guggenheim
She had come a very long way from the shtetl, but Marguerite ‘Peggy’ Guggenheim was still the poor relation of…
Peggy Guggenheim
She had come a very long way from the shtetl, but Marguerite ‘Peggy’ Guggenheim was still the poor relation of…
The first favela
Where are you going?’ demanded the boy on the wall. A walkie-talkie clipped to his denim shorts crackled, but there…
The first favela
Where are you going?’ demanded the boy on the wall. A walkie-talkie clipped to his denim shorts crackled, but there…
Skye
Glamour. It’s Marcello Mastroianni drinking negronis on the Via Veneto; it’s Audrey Hepburn, George Clooney, Sinatra on the Vegas Strip…
Skye
Glamour. It’s Marcello Mastroianni drinking negronis on the Via Veneto; it’s Audrey Hepburn, George Clooney, Sinatra on the Vegas Strip…
Ice cream
It was a mistake to tell us about the gelati-to-sightseeing ratio. This was the formula my father, his younger sister…
Ice cream
It was a mistake to tell us about the gelati-to-sightseeing ratio. This was the formula my father, his younger sister…
The gardens of Ninfa
I’ve just been given a personal tour of Ninfa by Monty Don. True, I had to share the thinking woman’s…
The gardens of Ninfa
I’ve just been given a personal tour of Ninfa by Monty Don. True, I had to share the thinking woman’s…
Holiday reading
Holidays are a welcome chance to lose ourselves between the covers of a book, especially for those of us who…
Holiday reading
Holidays are a welcome chance to lose ourselves between the covers of a book, especially for those of us who…
Passing through Bologna
Sooner or later, no matter where you are travelling on Italian railways, you are likely to pass through Bologna Centrale.…
Passing through Bologna
Sooner or later, no matter where you are travelling on Italian railways, you are likely to pass through Bologna Centrale.…
The Tour de France
On Saturday at Mont St Michel, the 103rd edition of the Tour de France begins, and the favourite to win…
The Tour de France
On Saturday at Mont St Michel, the 103rd edition of the Tour de France begins, and the favourite to win…
The misery of black tie
Men don’t look good in black tie. They might think that they look like Sean Connery in Dr No, but…
