Book review
Why Jeremy Paxman's Great War deserves a place on your bookshelf
The Great War involved the civilian population like no previous conflict. ‘Men, women and children, factory, workshop and army —…
Hogarth and the harlots of Covent Garden were many things, but they weren't 'bohemians'
It was Hazlitt who said of Hogarth that his pictures ‘breathe a certain close, greasy, tavern air’, and the same…
The imitable Jeeves
For as long as I can remember — I take neither pleasure nor pride in the admission — I have…
Carlos Acosta, the great dancer, should be a full-time novelist
Carlos Acosta, the greatest dancer of his generation, grew up in Havana as the youngest of 11 black children. Money…
Why did Penelope Fitzgerald start writing so late?
‘Experiences aren’t given us to be “got over”, otherwise they would hardly be experiences.’ The opening sentence of the first…
Christopher Howse takes the slow train in Spain — and writes a classic
This is probably not a book for those whose interest in Spain gravitates towards such contemporary phenomena as the films…
George Orwell's doublethink
The inventor of ‘doublethink’ was consistently inconsistent in his own political views, says A.N. Wilson. And no fun at all
A is for Artist, D is for Dealers
‘S is for Spoof.’ There it is on page 86, a full-page reproduction of a Nat Tate drawing, sold at…
Was Bach as boring as this picture suggests?
What, one wonders, will John Eliot Gardiner be chiefly remembered for? Perhaps, by many who have worked with him, for…
Does the world need 17 volumes of Hemingway's letters?
‘In the years since 1961 Hemingway’s reputation as “the outstanding author since the death of Shakespeare” shrank to the extent…
Italo Calvino's essays, Collection of Sand, is a brainy delight
The Japanese are sometimes said to suffer from ‘outsider person shock’ (gaijin shokku) when travelling abroad. Recently in London we…
Hitler didn't start indiscriminate bombings — Churchill did
‘I cannot describe to you what a curious note of brutality a bomb has,’ said one woman who lived through…
My dear old thing! Forget the nasty bits
There can be a strong strain of self-parody in even the greatest commentators. When Henry Blofeld describes the progress of…
'If I can barely speak, then I shall surely sing'
A few weeks ago, I was wandering with a friend around West London when our conversation turned to the reliable…
Clash of the titans
This is an odd book: interesting, informative, intelligent, but still decidedly odd. It is a history of the Victorian era…
Malala's voice is defiant — but how much can she change Pakistan?
In 2012 a Taleban gunman, infuriated by Malala Yousafzai’s frequent television appearances insisting that girls had a right to education,…
#Onyourmarks! What is the formal name for the hashtag?
One day there simply won’t be any strange byways of the English language left to write quirky little books about.…
How to avoid bankers in your nativity scene
With an eye to the blasphemy underlying some of the loveliest Renaissance painting, Honor Clerk will be choosing her Christmas cards more carefully this year
A badger eats, squats, thieves. But should we cull them?
Lord Arran was responsible for the bill to legalise homosexuality and a bill to protect badgers from gassing and terrier-baiting.…
How to get old without getting boring
When one notices the first symptoms of senile dementia (forgetting names, trying to remember the purpose of moving from one…
The Rothschilds, the Spenders, the Queen...
The novelist David Plante is French-Québécois by ancestry, grew up in a remote Francophone parish in Yankee New England and…
What caused the first world war?
In pre-1914 cosmopolitan society, everyone seemed to be related — ambassadors as well as monarchs. But increased militarisation was fast obliterating old family ties, says Jane Ridley
Breakfast with Lucian, by Geordie Greig - review
According to the medical historian Professor Sonu Shamdasani, Sigmund Freud was not the best, nor actually the most interesting, psychoanalyst…
Clumsy and heavy, Goliath never stood a chance
When we think of David and Goliath, we think of a young man, not very big, who has a fight…
Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking, by Anya von Bremzen - review
The early 1990s in Russia were hungry years. At the time, I was a student, too idle to barter and…
