Wigton

The sorrows of the young Melvyn Bragg

7 March 2026 9:00 am

His first impression of Oxford University in 1958 was of ‘effortless wealth and privilege everywhere’ and, feeling like a foreigner, he pined for the familiarity of close-knit Wigton

Rory Stewart’s romantic view of Cumbria is wide of the mark

13 December 2025 9:00 am

The former MP for Penrith and the Border prefers to ignore the depleted uplands and poisoned lakes as he rhapsodises about the landscape’s ‘improbable beauty’