Life
Dear Mary
Once again Mary has invited some of her favourite figures in the public eye to submit personal queries for her…
Twankydillo, tweets and twerking
The Widow Twankey first appeared on stage in 1861. At that time daily papers listed on Boxing Day dozens of novelty-stuffed…
The Christmas Quiz answers
Says who? 1. David Cameron. 2. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby. 3. Nick Clegg. 4. Prince…
Christmas Quiz
Says who? In 2013, who said:1. ‘To me it’s not a marriage, it is, if you like, a Ronseal deal.’2.…
The Christmas Quiz answers
Says who? 1. David Cameron. 2. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby. 3. Nick Clegg. 4. Prince…
Christmas Quiz
Says who? In 2013, who said:1. ‘To me it’s not a marriage, it is, if you like, a Ronseal deal.’2.…
The fall of France
Our sweet enemy, France, is not always that sweet. It is tempting to respond to France’s current degringolade with cynicism…
Winter horrorland
Winter Wonderland is a Christmas-themed playground that lands on the sorry part of Hyde Park in November; the part that…
One of the best years on record
British sport used to be dead. You only have to look down the list of past winners of the Sports…
Hennessy Day highlights
You don’t realise how much your pleasures mean until you are denied them. It was wonderful to get back on…
Wild Life
Laikipia In the cattle rustlers’ camp, I know as I write this that the warriors are sharpening their blades, staring…
Why it’s tough to be middle class
Until the late 1960s, the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson ran something called a ‘copy test’. It was a series…
High life
New York I’m in an extremely happy state as I write this because a young Englishman flew over the ocean…
Low life
It’s a disgrace! I went up to London from Devon, a hick up from the sticks, to Annabel’s in Berkeley…
Real life
Emmylou Harris and the McGarrigle sisters wrote a song called ‘All I left Behind’. My version is called ‘All They…
Long life
John Thompson, who died last week at the age of 93, could have been editor of The Spectator if he…
Dirty rotten scoundrels
In one of those old Mae West films a girl admires her friend’s jewellery: ‘Goodness, what lovely pearls,’ only to…
Bridge
One of the most dramatic events of the Spanish American War was the sinking of the cargo ship Merrimac. Early…
London classics
This year’s London Classic tournament, organised by the indefatigable Malcolm Pein, who also heads up the charity Chess in Schools…
7 December
Black to play. This position is a variation from Evans-Staunton, London 1845. Can you spot Black’s fine finish to the…
Winter’s tale
In Competition 2826 you were invited to submit nonsense verse on a wintry theme. The line between sense and nonsense…
2142: Wintry
Each of seventeen clues comprises a definition part and a hidden consecutive jumble of the answer including one extra letter.…
to 2139: Separated
The key word is BUTTERMILK (8), which can be separated into words defined by 15, 27, 40; 4, 23, 25;…
How I lost the battle of the cards
I’ve just had a massive row with Caroline about Christmas cards. We usually send about 120 and this year we’ve…
Dave
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