Second world war
Unlike the philistine sharks of today, Aleko Goulandris is an art collector of the old school
Aleko Goulandris is my oldest and closest friend. We met in the summer of 1945, at the Semiramis hotel in…
Fury: the men blow stuff up, then Brad Pitt takes his top off
Fury is a second world war drama that plays with us viscerally and unsparingly — I think I saw a…
We're still repeating the mistakes of the first world war
The time-honoured saying that England’s great battles have been won on the playing fields of Eton is a lot of…
More derring dos and don’ts from Paddy Leigh Fermor
Recent years have seen the slim but splendid Patrick Leigh Fermor oeuvre swell considerably. In 2008 came In Tearing Haste,…
Hugh Trevor-Roper: the spy as historian, the historian as spy
Shortly after the war began in September 1939, the branch of the intelligence services called MI8, or the Radio Security…
My amazing dad has found the secret of a happy life
This week I wanted to tell you about my amazing dad. He hasn’t died or anything. I just thought I’d…
The forgotten flank of the forgotten corps of the Forgotten Army
The British who fought in Burma became known as the ‘Forgotten Army’ because this was a neglected theatre of the…
Andrew Marr’s diary: Seeing shadows of Syria in Limousin’s ghost village
No, no, no, you don’t want a house abroad — the paperwork, the taxes, the piping, the cost of the…
The real Dad’s Army was no joke
Dad’s Army, the sitcom to end all sitcoms, portrayed the Home Guard as often doddery veterans. In one episode, Private…
Hitler’s Valkyrie: Unity Mitford at 100
Unity Mitford at 100
Spectator letters: Press regulation, heroic Bulgarians and the case for Scotch on the rocks
Beyond the law Sir: In your leading article of 28 June you make the point that the hacking trial demonstrates…
The cold, remote plateau of Vichy France where good was done
It is with a heavy heart that I pick up anything to do with the Holocaust. Not because it’s wearisome…
Brave, noble, forgotten – the other side of Italy's second world war
At the time of the armistice of September 1943, when the kingdom of Italy formally transferred its allegiance from the…
Patrick Leigh Fermor and the long, daft tradition of Brits trying to save Greece
Twenty-odd years ago, while on holiday in the deep Mani at the foot of the Peloponnese, I got into conversation…
Christopher Buckley's diary: Do you have to be American to love Downton?
My wife and I spent the winter in Worcestershire. This allowed me to tell everyone back home in the States:…
Paul Johnson’s diary: Boris would make a great PM – but he must strike now
I feel an intense antipathy for Vladimir Putin. No one on the international scene has aroused in me such dislike…
Generation War does something very un-German – bottles it
I was so looking forward to Generation War (BBC2, Saturday) — a three-part drama series covering the second world war…
Churchill was as mad as a badger. We should all be thankful
The egotistical Churchill may have viewed the second world war as pure theatre, but that was exactly what was needed at the time, says Sam Leith
When Mussolini came knocking on Hollywood’s door
John Ford was the first of the five famous Hollywood film directors to go to war. He went expecting to…
How Denmark’s Jews escaped the Nazis
Of all the statistics generated by the Holocaust, perhaps some of the most disturbing in the questions they give rise…
How the first world war inspired the EU
To understand the real meaning of the EU, you must grasp that it originated in the first world war, rather than the second
Write what you know — especially if it's the second world war
Adam Foulds’s latest novel is less successful than its predecessor. In 2009 he reached the Booker shortlist with The Quickening…
Mishal Husain's diary: Sachin, women secret agents, shipbuilding .. and telling the time.
I’ve worked for the BBC for years and have been listening to the Today programme all my adult life, but…
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…
Charles Moore's notes: It's great there's a World Islamic Economic Forum — now can we have a Jewish one?
As I write, the World Islamic Economic Forum is opening in London, the first time it has been held in…
