The spectator
My night with Rod Liddle
‘I was 12 when I first got laid.’ ‘Where was that?’ ‘In Middlesbrough.’ ‘How the hell did you get lucky…
A.N. Wilson has many regrets
‘Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults.’ A.N. Wilson seems, on the surface, to have taken to heart…
Why I’m touchy about being asked what I do for a living
In former times I had acquaintances of long standing, or even friends, who never once asked what I did for…
Tales from my private jet
Gstaad I was very sad to read of Rupert Hambro’s death. I didn’t know him well, but first met him…
The fakery of Martha Gellhorn
Gstaad Martha Gellhorn was a long-legged blonde American writer and journalist who became Papa Hemingway’s third and penultimate wife. She…
It’s been a tough year for socialites
New York Here we go again, the annual holiest of holies is upon us, although to this oldie last Christmas…
The radical history of The Spectator
A newspaper – it would be more than 100 years before it became a magazine – calling itself a spectator…
Writing my High Life column made a man of me
As Cole Porter might have said, only second-rate people go on and on about their inner lives. Self-analysis, according to…
Vodka, kaolin and morphine: my welcome drinks at The Spectator offices
In 2001, aged 44, I was hired to write a weekly column for this august paper, and for the first…
From Middlemarch to Mickey Mouse: a short history of The Spectator’s books and arts pages
The Spectator arts and books pages have spent 10,000 issues identifying the dominant cultural phenomena of the day and being difficult about them, says Richard Bratby
Sorry, sir, we only stock books we agree with
I was on my way to the pub the other evening, about seven o’clock, rain lashing down on my head,…
The men I’ve groped (including Boris)
Charlotte Edwardes reports that Boris put his hand on her leg during lunch 20 years ago. Full disclosure, I put…
Is it time to revive our play about Boris’s sex life?
I’m writing this from the Conservative party conference where Boris’s attempt to ram home the message that he’s the only…
Coco Gauff won fair and square, but she played terrible tennis
Martina Navratilova has never been shy about telling it like it is. She came out when other athletes were hiding…
Booze, cigarettes and Auberon Waugh: Remembering The Spectator’s 1970s revival
‘The Spectator, having quite recently been a very bad magazine, is at present a very good one.’ Those gratifying words…
Donald Hankey: a remarkable – and neglected – English voice
Last year the BBC radio drama department received 3,797 scripts from hopeful authors, of which just 33 were recommended to…
Too grand for the Queen Mother: my strange life at Country Life
The remarkable life and times of Country Life
The words The Spectator gave the world
When the much missed Frank Johnson (1943–2006), once editor of The Spectator, wrote in 1980 that ‘the peculiar need for…
We must play the blame game over HBOS. How else will bankers learn?
‘Everyone remembers the names of Applegarth of Northern Rock and Goodwin of RBS, but history may judge the HBOS men…
From the archives: the liberty of the battlefield
From ‘Soldiers for the land’, The Spectator, 13 November 1915: It is certain that, when the war is over, tens of…
Why over-forties like me still need feminism
For older women, the battle for equality is far from won
The many lives of John Buchan
Ursula Buchan casts further light on her grandfather’s famous novel
Why I’m stepping down after 28 years as The Spectator pop critic
Pop's place in culture has changed drastically. Marcus Berkmann explains why, after 27 years, it is time to step down as The Spectator's pop critic
My role in saving The Spectator
I was wondering what to write about this week when I suddenly realised that exactly 40 years ago this Saturday…
