Books
Rebus is good, but not as sharp as he once was
Cig 1 Auld Reekie . . . Edinburgh . . . brewers’ town, stinking of beer, whisky, tweeness, gentility, hypocrisy,…
The Briton whose achievement equals that of the Pharaohs'
We constantly need to be reminded that the consequence of war is death. In the case of the first world…
How many positions are there in the Kamasutra?
Numbers, as every mathematician knows, do odd things. But they’re never odder than in the human context. Ever since we…
Through It All I’ve Always Laughed, by Count Arthur Strong - review
Fans of Count Arthur Strong (and yes I know he’s so Marmite you could spread him on a cheese sandwich)…
The most important gardening book of the year
I’ll own up at once. Tim Richardson and Andrew Lawson, the author and photographer of The New English Garden (Frances…
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…
One Leg Too Few may be one biography too many
It’s no joke, writing about comedians. Their work is funny, their lives are not. Rightly honouring the former while accurately…
Why do the British love cryptic crosswords?
Everyone loves an anniversary and the crossword world — if there is such a thing — has been waiting a…
A place of paranoia, secrecy, corruption, hypocrisy and guilt
‘Is he a good writer? Is he pro-regime?’ an Iranian journalist in London once asked me of Hooman Majd. Majd…
How the Romantics ruined lives
It is perhaps the most celebrated house-party in the history of literary tittle-tattle: a two-house-party to be precise. Byron and…
Andro Linklater by Robert Gray - obituary
For 24 years Andro Linklater, who died aged 68 on 3 November, reviewed books in these pages. Always an enthusiast,…
Books and Arts
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Mining magnate paradox
In many ways, Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest has become the likeable face of the Australian mining boom, a self-made billionaire without…
Two cheers for Bowen
Since I know Speccie readers like a bit of a shock, let me oblige: I think Chris Bowen is a…
Books and Arts
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Why do we pounce on Wagner's anti-Semitism, and ignore that of the Russian composers?
Philip Hensher on how an impassioned, chaotic group of amateur 19th-century composers created the first distinctively Russian music
What would Auden have deemed evil in our time? European jingoism
‘Goodbye to the Mezzogiorno’ was the first Auden poem that Alexander McCall Smith read in his youth. He discovered it…
Roman baths didn't make you clean — and other gems from Peter Jones's Veni, Vedi, Vici
Spectator readers need no introduction to Peter Jones. His Ancient and Modern column has instructed and delighted us for many…
Read any good crime fiction lately?
No Exit Press is not a large publisher but it has the knack of choosing exceptionally interesting crime fiction. Brother…
How much can you tell about E.E. Cummings from this photo?
Do you think you can tell things about writers from the way they look in a painting or photograph? A…
Mary Killen: Sandi Toksvig is wrong about the placement of the pudding fork
Sandi Toksvig, as this book’s cover declares, ‘makes Stephen Fry look like a layabout’. The broadcaster, author, comedian, actress and…
Can virgins have babies?
Mrs Christabel Russell, the heroine of Bevis Hillier’s sparkling book, was a very modern young woman. She had short blonde…
The best funny books for Christmas
Books do furnish a room, and quirky books for Christmas do furnish an enormous warehouse somewhere within easy reach of…
The abstract art full of 'breasts and bottoms'
Is there any such thing as abstract art? Narratives and coherent harmonies seem to me always to emerge from the…
The man who shared a bed with D.H. Lawrence and Dylan Thomas (though not together)
Rhys Davies was a Welsh writer in English who lived most of his life in London, that Tir na nÓg…
