Second world war
The real Dad’s Army was no joke
Dad’s Army, the sitcom to end all sitcoms, portrayed the Home Guard as often doddery veterans. In one episode, Private…
Hitler’s Valkyrie: Unity Mitford at 100
Unity Mitford at 100
Spectator letters: Press regulation, heroic Bulgarians and the case for Scotch on the rocks
Beyond the law Sir: In your leading article of 28 June you make the point that the hacking trial demonstrates…
The cold, remote plateau of Vichy France where good was done
It is with a heavy heart that I pick up anything to do with the Holocaust. Not because it’s wearisome…
Brave, noble, forgotten – the other side of Italy's second world war
At the time of the armistice of September 1943, when the kingdom of Italy formally transferred its allegiance from the…
Patrick Leigh Fermor and the long, daft tradition of Brits trying to save Greece
Twenty-odd years ago, while on holiday in the deep Mani at the foot of the Peloponnese, I got into conversation…
Christopher Buckley's diary: Do you have to be American to love Downton?
My wife and I spent the winter in Worcestershire. This allowed me to tell everyone back home in the States:…
Paul Johnson’s diary: Boris would make a great PM – but he must strike now
I feel an intense antipathy for Vladimir Putin. No one on the international scene has aroused in me such dislike…
Generation War does something very un-German – bottles it
I was so looking forward to Generation War (BBC2, Saturday) — a three-part drama series covering the second world war…
Churchill was as mad as a badger. We should all be thankful
The egotistical Churchill may have viewed the second world war as pure theatre, but that was exactly what was needed at the time, says Sam Leith
When Mussolini came knocking on Hollywood’s door
John Ford was the first of the five famous Hollywood film directors to go to war. He went expecting to…
How Denmark’s Jews escaped the Nazis
Of all the statistics generated by the Holocaust, perhaps some of the most disturbing in the questions they give rise…
How the first world war inspired the EU
To understand the real meaning of the EU, you must grasp that it originated in the first world war, rather than the second
Write what you know — especially if it's the second world war
Adam Foulds’s latest novel is less successful than its predecessor. In 2009 he reached the Booker shortlist with The Quickening…
Mishal Husain's diary: Sachin, women secret agents, shipbuilding .. and telling the time.
I’ve worked for the BBC for years and have been listening to the Today programme all my adult life, but…
Blonde, beautiful — and desperate to survive in Nazi France
Around 200 Englishwomen lived through the German Occupation of Paris. Nicholas Shakespeare’s aunt Priscilla was one. Men in the street…
Charles Moore's notes: It's great there's a World Islamic Economic Forum — now can we have a Jewish one?
As I write, the World Islamic Economic Forum is opening in London, the first time it has been held in…
Alexander Chancellor: Why aren't Italians angrier about Nazi atrocities?
Given that more than 9,000 innocent Italian civilians, many of them women and children, died in Nazi massacres during the…
Alexander Chancellor: It seemed a little creepy that thousands of people wanted to
My village, Stoke Bruerne in south Northamptonshire, is just getting back to normal after a great influx of visitors for…
The Windsor Faction, by D.J. Taylor - review
In both his novels and non-fiction, D. J. Taylor has long been fascinated by the period between the wars. Now…
Uncle Bill, by Russell Miller - review
Given the outcome of recent military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is pertinent to look for one particular quality…
As Green as Grass, by Emma Smith - review
The title, the subtitle, the author’s plain name, even the jacket’s photograph of a laughing old lady in sunglasses: none…
Nigel Farndale’s diary: The dread moment when they announce next year's school fees
Next time I’m in a sauna I’m going to say: ‘It’s like a school sports hall on prize day in…
