Notes on a scandal
I was a boy of ten when the Profumo affair began at Cliveden, my family’s home. Andrew Lloyd Webber has captured some of the story – but not all
Ship of fools
Has there ever been a better story? It's like a version of Titanic where first class cheers for the iceberg
Remembering Simon Hoggart, 1946–2014
The former Spectator editor remembers his brilliant wine correspondent
Fast train to friendship
Five decades of delight began at midnight on the platform for the Flying Scotsman
The Navigators
The 2014 winner of The Spectator’s Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize for unconventional travel writing, illustrated by Carolyn Gowdy
Gardens for all seasons
Winter garden visiting is a solitary pastime, lending itself to the misanthrope, and is highly recommended. When it’s so cold…
‘The most important Jewish writer since Kafka’
Clarice Lispector is revered in Brazil. Benjamin Moser's fascinating biography deserves to make her much better known here
A boy on a bicycle
The Foundling Boy is only the second book by 90-year-old, award-winning Michel Déon to make it into English. It won't be the last...
We were not amused
Lucinda Hawskley thinks she knows. But her The Mystery of Princess Louise presents no hard evidence
One drama after another
In 1976, as the National Theatre moved into its new home on London’s South Bank, its literary manager Kenneth Tynan…
Dayshifts
The Man in the Moon will come on Tuesday. He will wear his grey hat and be travelling alone. Take…
The magnificent Seventh
Brian Moynahan's Leningrad: Siege and Symphony brings together the story of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony and that of the siege of Leningrad to inspiring, heartbreaking effect
Elder statesman of the Republic of Letters
The Long Voyage: Selected Letters of Malcolm Cowley reveals a great reviewer who preferred to rehabilitate and encourage, rather than rebuke or revile
Great Scot
John McEwen's handsome and substantial biography shows why John Bellany was the most influential Scottish painter of the 20th century - and just how much he overproduced
A look ahead
Matisse, Rembrandt, Italians, Germans, Vikings and the court of Ming are all in store at Britain's great museums this year
The genius of Gluck
Why are there so many productions of Richard Strauss's gargantuan operas, and so few of Gluck's works of genius?
An irrepressible spirit
The pianist tells the Spectator his dazzling career was inspired by the Tom and Jerry Show – and that sometimes he has to fend off bad spirits
Seasonal torture
The most recent ditty to join the Christmas canon was Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas is You, in 1994. We deserve more joy
Going for a duck
The Duck House, about the MP expenses scandal and politicians' peccadilloes, is the best show now playing in the West End
Brace yourself
Steve McQueen's third and best film spills with great performances - but it belongs to Chiwetel Ejiofor
Truths and fallacies
The BBC can never talk honestly about the immigration problem because it's responsible for the cultural mindset that made it possible
Mint condition
Plus: Why there's so little space on your local war memorial for the names of World War II heroes
Sins of omission
All exhibitions commit sins of omission, but the omissions in Georgians Revealed are unforgivable
