Perhaps an antagonistic bull would buy this paperback if he were a bull in an airport bookshop. The publisher (Coronet) has packaged it to make it as unappealing as possible to a thoughtful reader.
Two Afghan wars in the 19th century are often quoted as a warning the Russians, then the US, UK and their allies and now perhaps China should have heeded.
I will go to look at the new memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales, but at first sight it does not appeal. Perhaps it will look better in the context of its garden setting outside Kensington Palace.
I have finished The Quest for Queen Mary. There was one more especially enjoyable piece: James Pope-Hennessy’s visit to Copenhagen to meet Prince and Princess Axel of Denmark.
I enjoyed Hugo Vickers’ diaries written when he was writing Cecil Beaton’s biography (Malice in Wonderland) so it was just a step back of thirty years to James Pope-Hennessy’s diaries when he was writing Queen Mary’s biography.
There was a smutty joke at school. “What went up Judy’s Passage?” “Lupton’s Tower.” This passage connects The Green Park with a courtyard at the end of St James’s Place, previously a stable yard.