Christopher Isherwood

We have a true book-loving Queen – and she is a marvel

1 August 2026 9:00 am

Shepherd Market, W1, has many ghosts, some of whom are literary. In the shadow of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s former digs…

Joining the old rogue on his 80th birthday, from left to right, Bevis Hillier, Antonia Fraser, Hamilton, James Pope-Hennessy, James Reeve, and the Spectator’s current book editor, Mark Amory

A bounder par excellence

19 July 2014 9:00 am

In his time, Gerald Hamilton (1890–1970) was an almost legendary figure, but he is now remembered — if at all…

Darling Flufftail … beloved Pinkpaws

21 September 2013 9:00 am

The correspondence between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy is good for celebrity-spotting but too cloyingly self-absorbed to be of wider interest, says D. J. Taylor