parsimony

Lean and mean: Mick Jagger was always a tightwad

9 May 2026 9:00 am

His parsimony included replacing chocolate biscuits with plain ones at recording sessions and paying a derisory £50 for what became known as ‘the most famous logo in the history of pop music’

The making of William Golding as a writer

8 November 2025 9:00 am

Letters between Golding and Faber’s Charles Monteith reveal just how much the author owed to his editor – not least in the choice of book titles

The traitor who gives Downing Street a bad name

11 October 2025 9:00 am

Even by 17th-century standards, George Downing’s duplicity in serving both Oliver Cromell and Charles II was exceptional and set new standards for unscrupulousness