Life
In defence of the Boat Race
It’s Boat Race time again and as soon as the BBC starts its broadcast on Sunday there will be those…
True sportsmen
In the parade ring just after Sire De Grugy had won this year’s Queen Mother Champion Chase, I found myself…
He's a great friend. He knows everything. Please don't let him phone
Another sunny Sunday morning and the phone rings. I pick up the receiver. It’s Frank. I groan inwardly. Frank is…
I accidentally bought a racehorse. Would you like to join a syndicate?
This horse-rearing business is not for the faint-hearted. I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought an eight-month-old…
I'll have to give up Waitrose. It's too exciting for me now
Waitrose in Towcester has closed down for a week to make what it describes as ‘a final few touches’ to…
A £50 million search for love
Laikipia When I first knew Michael Cunningham-Reid he was such a strict teetotaller that he would not eat trifle for…
Bridge
You’ve probably read about the English Bridge Union’s attempt to get bridge reclassified as a sport rather than a game…
Magnus force
As the World Championship qualifier (aka Candidates tournament) approaches its final rounds in Khanty-Mansisk, it is worth emphasising the Everest which…
No. 307
White to play. This is a possible variation from Mamedyarov-Topalov, Khanty-Mansisk Candidates 2014. The black king is rather exposed in…
De haut en bas
In Competition 2840 you were invited to provide an extract from the autobiography of a modern-day celebrity, ghostwritten by a…
2155: Poor Billy’s left out
The unclued lights (two must be paired) are of a kind, verifiable in Brewer. Across 10 Details from Britain…
to 2152: T20
Each letter of each solution and each unclued light has to be represented in the grid by its numerical position…
Lessons from Tina Brown on the art of failing upwards
Shortly after I started working at Vanity Fair in the mid-1990s, I suggested to my boss Graydon Carter that I…
Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
The engagement-ring theory of property bubbles
Google ‘the bread market’ and you get 135,000 hits, mostly from specialist food industry websites. Google ‘the property market’, however,…
Dear Mary: What can I do about guests who don’t know how to wash up properly?
Q. I have three spare bedrooms in London and I welcome friends to come and stay. Unfortunately, some of these…
What Quique Dacosta knows that Picasso didn’t
Chefs have a problem. Think of much of the best food you have ever eaten. Caviar, English native oysters, sashimi,…
When did we stop ‘tossing’ coins?
What kind of scientists do school inspectors not need to be? ‘Inspectors don’t need to be rocket scientists.’ For what…
New ways to open a bottle
Chefs have a problem. Think of much of the best food you have ever eaten. Caviar, English native oysters, sashimi,…
Wild life
Laikipia When I first knew Michael Cunningham-Reid he was such a strict teetotaller that he would not eat trifle for…
The diamond-ring theory of housing bubbles
Google ‘the bread market’ and you get 135,000 hits, mostly from specialist food industry websites. Google ‘the property market’, however,…
Paddy Macklin's special kind of courage
On 1 July 1961, a beautiful 17-year-old girl appeared on the cover of Paris Match, then in its heyday: ‘C’est…
The hilarity of Hoopoes and Luis Suárez’s teeth
My brother’s three Borders are called Roxy, Ruby and Taz. My one ambition in life is to own a terrier…
The girl who hadn't heard of the Berlin Wall
‘Question 2. In which year did the Berlin Wall come down?’ shouted the quizmaster. And then he repeated this with…
It's sheer madness for Cameron to resurrect the hunting issue
My house in south Northamptonshire looks out over parkland on which Henry VIII used to hunt deer with Anne Boleyn.…
