Drink
Uncorking the past
I have been thinking about the Dark Ages. This has nothing to do with Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn. A…
Rosé-tinted glasses
It was a typical bank holiday. Usual English weather: glorious, until you leave home without a brolly. Then fickleness supervenes…
French fancies
‘That sweet enemy, France.’ It takes a poet to summarise centuries of military and diplomatic history. On a prosaic level,…
A very British bildung
Over the long weekend I read a couple of bildungs-romans; one a revisit after many years, the other a recent…
A glimmer of hope
I argued that it was unnecessary to have made sacrifices during Lent in order to celebrate its conclusion. It is…
A toast to unsung heroes
We were talking about war, the desert and God. In the early Seventies, one of our number, Christopher James, had…
The fall of Paris
Paris used to be the most self-confident city in the world. Brash, assertive, boastful: Manhattan claimed to be the best.…
A vintage that tastes of Old Possum
Eliot. After 50 years trying to make sense of his verse, and at the risk of admitting to rampant philistinism,…
A vintage that tastes of Old Possum
Eliot. After 50 years trying to make sense of his verse, and at the risk of admitting to rampant philistinism,…
Cats and clarets
Call me a sentimental old whatever, but watching a four-year old hearing The Tale of Samuel Whiskers for the first…
Cats and clarets
Call me a sentimental old whatever, but watching a four-year old hearing The Tale of Samuel Whiskers for the first…
Bloody Marys and glorious Jean
To the Western Isles, or at least to its embassy in Belgravia. Boisdale restaurant always claims to be extra-territorial. There…
Bloody Marys and glorious Jean
To the Western Isles, or at least to its embassy in Belgravia. Boisdale restaurant always claims to be extra-territorial. There…
Bloody Marys and glorious Jean
To the Western Isles, or at least to its embassy in Belgravia. Boisdale restaurant always claims to be extra-territorial. There…
Cold War collation
I know an immensely grand aristocratic lady, impeccably mannered, with a regal grace and presence, who cannot be trusted near…
Cold War collation
I know an immensely grand aristocratic lady, impeccably mannered, with a regal grace and presence, who cannot be trusted near…
Sherry to start
Someone came up with a century-old quotation plangent with irony and sadness: ‘The year 1916 was cursed: 1917 will surely…
Sherry to start
Someone came up with a century-old quotation plangent with irony and sadness: ‘The year 1916 was cursed: 1917 will surely…
Harry, Jeffrey and Benoit
I first ate at the London version of Harry’s Bar in the early 1990s. Back then, Jeffrey Archer and I…
Harry, Jeffrey and Benoit
I first ate at the London version of Harry’s Bar in the early 1990s. Back then, Jeffrey Archer and I…
Wines of the times
The other day, I had lunch with the grandest person I know. Forget 1066: Adrian Ziani de Ferranti can trace…
Wines of the times
The other day, I had lunch with the grandest person I know. Forget 1066: Adrian Ziani de Ferranti can trace…
Bottle shots
This is something to be said for starting to celebrate Christmas before the end of the grouse season. It provides…
Bottle shots
This is something to be said for starting to celebrate Christmas before the end of the grouse season. It provides…
Autumn riches
A few days ago, on the Dorset/Somerset marches, autumn was still in orderly retreat. Although a pear tree’s leaves had…
