Travel
The island where monkeys steal from your minibar
A short flight from Kuala Lumpur, the island of Langkawiis a wise choice for anyone seeking to shake off the…
Tsar quality: the charm of Tbilisi
‘These regions are not under the control of the central government,’ reads a warning on a map of Georgia in…
Why Tuscany always beats Provence for me
A family of peacocks is sunning itself in our villa garden. They all look extraordinarily happy and composed, especially the…
Visiting the world’s masterpieces is a quixotic undertaking
From his base in London, Martin Gayford has spent much of his career as an art critic travelling. He has…
Round North Korea with Michael Palin in rose-tinted spectacles
Michael Palin in North Korea, a two-part documentary in which the Python is given a tightly choreographed tour of that…
On photography, shrines and Maradona: Geoff Dyer’s Neapolitan pilgrimage
At the Villa Pignatelli in Naples there is an exhibition by Elisa Sighicelli: photographs of bits and pieces of antiquity…
The spooky side of Savannah
Savannah GA is supposed to have lots of ghosts, but I’d forgotten that. It was an April morning and sunlight…
There is a far better option than HS2 – and it already exists
Just 48 hours before the conclusion of the Conservative leadership contest, Allan Cook, chairman of HS2, wrote to the government…
Dear Mary: I won a bet – how do I make my friend pay up?
Q. A delightful but disorganised friend has invited several of our circle for a weekend at his family’s beautiful country…
Dear Mary: how can I stop myself procrastinating?
Q. I am not a professional writer but on the strength of a short piece I contributed to a Festschrift…
Train journeys may be losing their romance — but there are other adventures still to be had
Monisha Rajesh wrote lovingly about the Indian railways in her previous book, Around India in 80 Trains; but her new…
Tuning up to Linz
You never know who you might meet on a river cruise. It was my 89-year-old father-in-law, Noel, who first recognised…
Gibraltar, the rock of ages past
How lazy, snobbish and wrong it is to mock Gibraltar for the lager and fish and chips clichés. Yes, you…
Bitten by the cold: the strange attraction of polar exploration
‘We had seen God in his splendours, heard the text that nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of…
Boys’ Own adventures in the war-torn Middle East
Ask most people whether they fancy a four-month, 5,000-mile trek across the Middle East and they might conclude you need…
There’s a reason Unst is called the island above all others
‘I’d like a copy of the Times,’ said the visitor from the south. ‘Yesterday’s or today’s?’ the shopkeeper asked. ‘Today’s,…
Jan Morris talks to herself — about music, irony and cats
To Jan Morris, I am anathema. That goes, too, for David Attenborough. It is a word that this unarguably great…
The unknown Auden: the poet’s dashing brother
A book that opens in a Lahore refugee camp, shifts to Cat Bells Fell, rising above the shores of Derwentwater,…
Climbing Everest with Brian Blessed is the nearest anyone will get to encountering the yeti
In 1969 the body of an ape-like creature, preserved in ice inside an insulated box, came to light in Minnesota.…
The Empty Quarter is a great refuge for lonely hearts
Here’s a treat for desert lovers. William Atkins, author of the widely admired book The Moor, has wisely exchanged the…
Are cruise liners the solution to the housing crisis?
Looking at the sketchbook of William Whitelock Lloyd, a soldier-artist who joined a P&O liner after surviving the Anglo-Zulu War,…
Dear Mary: I keep needing the loo during formal dinner parties – help!
Q. My wife and I have been invited to a small but formal dinner in the presence of some impressive…
The wild and wintry wonders of Lapland
As Sini harnessed up the huskies they were all yelping with excitement, but once we set off and the forest…
How pleasant to know Mr Lear
Edward Lear liked to tell the story of how he was once sitting in a railway carriage with two women…
Octopus beaks and snake soup
Driving across Japan’s Shikuko island, the food and travel writer Michael Booth pulls into a filling station to find, alongside…
