Hugh Trevor-Roper
Malice and intrigue in the shadow of Tom Tower
The eight Christ Church historians portrayed by Richard Davenport-Hines were supremely gifted as writers and talkers – but the unpleasantness of Oxford dons is not downplayed
History must at least be readable if we’re to learn anything from it
Richard Cohen was once one of our foremost book editors as well as being an Olympic sabre champion. Since moving…
Fantasist, bigamist and cheat: the colourful career of Robert Parkin Peters
In 2010, Adam Sisman published a masterly biography of Hugh Trevor-Roper, who was not merely one of the best historians…
Bernard Berenson and Kenneth Clark: pen friends, not true friends
Robert Cumming’s opening sentence is: ‘Kenneth Clark and Bernard Berenson first met in the summer of 1925.’ One is then…
Max Hastings’s diary: The joys of middle age, and Prince Charles’s strange letters
I am living in rustic seclusion while writing a book. Our only cultural outing of the week was to Newbury…
Oriel: the college that shaped the spiritual heart of 19th century Britain
Oriel was only the fifth college to be founded in Oxford, in 1326. Although it has gone through periods of…
Kim Philby got away with it because he was posh
Kim Philby’s treachery escaped detection for so long through the stupidity and snobbery of the old-boy network surrounding him, says Philip Hensher
Letters: Charles Saatchi's challenge to Taki, and the battle over Benefits Street
On Benefits Street Sir: Fraser Nelson asserts that people in charities do not want to talk about what life is…
