Notes on…

The unwritten rules of sending Christmas cards

7 December 2019 9:00 am

No one sends Christmas cards any more. Except that I do, and you might, and a few other people do…

The big burly blokes who make infinitely precise pointe shoes by hand

30 November 2019 9:00 am

Pauline, Petrova or Posy? Which Fossil sister are you? Or, rather, which Fossil sister did you hope to be when…

Starling murmurations are a display more dazzling than fireworks

23 November 2019 9:00 am

It’s late afternoon in the car park of Workington Asda. A little crowd is gathering in one corner, most of…

The joy of rummaging through Gladstone’s annotated books

16 November 2019 9:00 am

Gladstone’s Library began as that most English of things: a great man’s visionary idea. William Gladstone, at the age of…

The war heroes of Northolt Airport

9 November 2019 9:00 am

At 6.50 p.m. on 31 August 1997 a plane touched down at Northolt Airport. It was a lamentable and dismal…

The unlikely beauty of urinals

2 November 2019 9:00 am

In 1966, just as he was becoming famous, Michael Caine met John Wayne. The Holly-wood veteran offered him some advice:…

The Grand Union Canal, a serene sanctuary amid the urban sprawl

26 October 2019 9:00 am

It was a Saturday afternoon in September, the end of summer, and I was feeling sorry for myself. I’d gone…

It’s not just hooligans – hipsters also love a football shirt

19 October 2019 9:00 am

When I was young, from about the age of nine to 13, I went through what my parents recall with…

The lessons I learned at my Oxford gaudy

12 October 2019 9:00 am

I went to a gaudy last weekend. Several British universities now host these splendid events; mine was at Worcester College,…

Small but perfectly formed: The Romney and Hythe Railway

5 October 2019 9:00 am

‘The smallest public railway in the world.’ So proclaims a faded poster at New Romney Station, the midpoint of the…

We have the French Revolution to thank for Ordnance Survey maps

28 September 2019 9:00 am

You could say it started because of the French. The turmoil caused by their revolution got the British military worried…

My puppy-training advice for Boris Johnson

21 September 2019 9:00 am

President Harry Truman once observed: ‘If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.’ Boris Johnson, as Prime Minister…

Inside the unassuming house where the Brontës’ creativity thrived

14 September 2019 9:00 am

‘Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless?’ Jane Eyre asks Mr…

The unparalleled entertainment – and heartbreaking reality – of watching a court hearing

7 September 2019 9:00 am

‘Barristers’ speeches vanish quicker than Chinese dinners, and even the greatest victory in court rarely survives longer than the next…

A bridge to the past: Tintagel’s complex history

31 August 2019 9:00 am

Halfway across the brand new bridge that links the two halves of Tintagel Castle, there’s a gap where you can…

It’s easy to see why Trump wants to buy Greenland

24 August 2019 9:00 am

When the news broke of Donald Trump’s interest in acquiring Greenland from the Danes for strategic, mining and perhaps golf…

Britain’s jazz scene is in full swing

17 August 2019 9:00 am

Jazz died in 1959. At least, that’s what New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton wrote in 2011 as part of a…

The spooky side of Savannah

10 August 2019 9:00 am

Savannah GA is supposed to have lots of ghosts, but I’d forgotten that. It was an April morning and sunlight…

Grimly magnificent: the east end of the priory

The grim magnificence of Gisborough Priory

3 August 2019 9:00 am

Gisborough Priory was founded in 1119, although the gothic chunks which remain of it today — including the grimly magnificent…

Top flight: A plane lands at London City Airport

The joy of flying from London City Airport

27 July 2019 9:00 am

The late Frank Johnson — former editor of The Spectator — had a thing about London City Airport. ‘I never…

No pigs in sight: Anne Hathaway’s Cottage

The charm – and artifice – of the English cottage garden

20 July 2019 9:00 am

The confusion is understandable. You arrive at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon, keen to experience the quintessential cottage garden —…

The motorway that contains 2.5 million Mills & Boon novels

13 July 2019 9:00 am

The first one was too straight. In the absence of a speed limit, early motorists on the M1 used the…

The forgotten joy of soap

6 July 2019 9:00 am

Is there any invention as ancient and as fundamental as soap? Traced to Babylonian civilisation around 2,800 bc (handy for…

Why croquet beats cricket

29 June 2019 9:00 am

People say cricket is the quintessential English game. Those people are wrong. Cricket may have a longer pedigree, but it’s…

What I learned from piercing ears at Claire’s Accessories

22 June 2019 9:00 am

I was 17, studying for my A-levels in Great Yarmouth. Looking to defy my parents’ instruction to get a part-time…