Notes on…
Letterheads
One of the pleasures of the letters from unhappy ministers to the Prime Minister last week (though not, presumably, for…
Desire paths
Pause in a park or field in summer and look out across the grass and you’ll see a multitude of…
Curtain calls
‘And now the end is here / And so I face the final curtain…’ You said it, Frank. The lights…
The National Army Museum
Five years ago this month I wrote an article in The Spectator denouncing the National Army Museum after its £24…
Elderflower
There’s an old saying that English summertime begins when the frothy heads of elderflowers appear in hedgerows – and ends…
Beach huts
Despite claims the property market is on the brink of a crash, one niche seems recession-proof: beach huts, barely bigger…
Dubonnet
The Platinum Jubilee celebrations look like boom time for the drinks industry, with various whisky, gin and port brands all…
Getting things mended
‘Sides to middle’, that’s the cry. When your foot goes through the flat sheet in the night, there’s only one…
Bowls
Bowls has a reputation as a sedate pastime, but it can be as fiercely competitive as any other sport. It…
Buffalo
Buffalo are now living in the fens of Kent. Why – have we slipped into the metaverse of Lewis Carroll?…
Iranian picnics
Iranians adore a picnic. During the country’s most ancient festival, Nowruz, the Persian new year, they brandish baskets of food…
Fringes
Fringes have in recent years been considered attractive – Bettie Page, Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Birkin, Kate Moss – so it…
Hitchhiking
When I first saw Vitaly I thought he was drunk. I was standing outside a petrol station near Fulda, in…
Violets
The English Rock Garden, the magnum opus of the great gardening writer, horticulturist and plant collector Reginald Farrer, is an…
The Wolseley
I was sitting alone at a small table in the Wolseley, Piccadilly, waiting for my supper and feeling a sense…
Crisp sandwiches
A crisp sandwich is a private and personal endeavour. In my experience (and I have considerable experience in this particular…
Mother’s Day
As ever, the Romans got there first. Their version of Mothering Sunday or Mother’s Day was the feast of Juno…
Slugs and snails
Slugs and snails are the bane of every gardener who tries to grow strawberries, leafy and tuberous vegetables, flowering bulbs…
Convertibles
The earliest cars were technically convertibles because the technology to fit a roof did not exist. Now the dedicated retractable…
Hedgehogs
No wild animal is closer to the hearts of the British than the hedgehog. In poll after poll, it has…
Dachshunds
Short of leg but big on personality, the eccentrically shaped dachshund is one of Britain’s most beloved pets. Originally known…
Whistling
There was, at least until recently, an old sign round the back of the Savoy banning whistling by staff or…
Carp
All anglers are obsessive, but carp fishers are the most single-minded of all. They think nothing of spending weeks on…
Daffodils
Spring is the season of supermarket daffodils. At a pound a bunch, you can deck out your home like Elton…
Fur
We in Britain have long been much more squeamish about fur than other Europeans. I still well remember the snide…
