Life
A far cry from Chelsea
London House is in Battersea, which some people call South Chelsea, but is more East Wandsworth to my mind; or…
Ledbury Road
Two poems in memory of Mick Imlah 1. ‘Hardy and Housman lived round here,’ I said, slumped in an armchair…
In defence of the Boat Race
It’s Boat Race time again and as soon as the BBC starts its broadcast on Sunday there will be those…
True sportsmen
In the parade ring just after Sire De Grugy had won this year’s Queen Mother Champion Chase, I found myself…
Low life
Another sunny Sunday morning and the phone rings. I pick up the receiver. It’s Frank. I groan inwardly. Frank is…
Real life
This horse-rearing business is not for the faint-hearted. I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought an eight-month-old…
Long life
Waitrose in Towcester has closed down for a week to make what it describes as ‘a final few touches’ to…
Wild life
Laikipia When I first knew Michael Cunningham-Reid he was such a strict teetotaller that he would not eat trifle for…
Bridge
You’ve probably read about the English Bridge Union’s attempt to get bridge reclassified as a sport rather than a game…
Magnus force
As the World Championship qualifier (aka Candidates tournament) approaches its final rounds in Khanty-Mansisk, it is worth emphasising the Everest which…
No. 307
White to play. This is a possible variation from Mamedyarov-Topalov, Khanty-Mansisk Candidates 2014. The black king is rather exposed in…
De haut en bas
In Competition 2840 you were invited to provide an extract from the autobiography of a modern-day celebrity, ghostwritten by a…
2155: Poor Billy’s left out
The unclued lights (two must be paired) are of a kind, verifiable in Brewer. Across 10 Details from Britain…
to 2152: T20
Each letter of each solution and each unclued light has to be represented in the grid by its numerical position…
Keeping up appearances
Shortly after I started working at Vanity Fair in the mid-1990s, I suggested to my boss Graydon Carter that I…
Battle for Britain
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The diamond-ring theory of housing bubbles
Google ‘the bread market’ and you get 135,000 hits, mostly from specialist food industry websites. Google ‘the property market’, however,…
Dear Mary
Q. I have three spare bedrooms in London and I welcome friends to come and stay. Unfortunately, some of these…
New ways to open a bottle
Chefs have a problem. Think of much of the best food you have ever eaten. Caviar, English native oysters, sashimi,…
Flip
What kind of scientists do school inspectors not need to be? ‘Inspectors don’t need to be rocket scientists.’ For what…
New ways to open a bottle
Chefs have a problem. Think of much of the best food you have ever eaten. Caviar, English native oysters, sashimi,…
Wild life
Laikipia When I first knew Michael Cunningham-Reid he was such a strict teetotaller that he would not eat trifle for…
The diamond-ring theory of housing bubbles
Google ‘the bread market’ and you get 135,000 hits, mostly from specialist food industry websites. Google ‘the property market’, however,…
High life
On 1 July 1961, a beautiful 17-year-old girl appeared on the cover of Paris Match, then in its heyday: ‘C’est…
Low life
My brother’s three Borders are called Roxy, Ruby and Taz. My one ambition in life is to own a terrier…
