A few mid 20th century writers have been mentioned here as being unjustly neglected today: Alec Waugh and Peter Fleming, both overshadowed by their younger brothers, William Sansom and now I have another name to add to the list.
I went to lunch and ordered a Panang (sic) Curry. It was, no doubt about it, road-kill. I didn’t need to be a mortician to recognise those little squirrel bones – well maybe it was something else …
It is a pleasure to write about a film that delivers unalloyed pleasure – a little bitter-sweet and a bit feel-good – a good combo like a dark chocolate and orange pudding. I will be surprised if you don’t warm to La La Land and shed a tear too.
An article in The Spectator last week by Sinclair McKay sent me to a bookcase to pull this out. His piece was about Old Etonian, Nigel de Grey, who decoded the Zimmermann Telegram in 1917 with a Presbyterian pastor, the Rev William Montgomery.
Choosing presents is tricky. Books and booze usually go down well but “things” are often risky. Many people are reluctant to add to their clutter. I was given an unusual and most satisfactory Christmas present this year …
If you’re an old hand here you won’t be surprised that I enjoyed the Paul Nash show at Tate Britain. Let me fess up, hitherto I knew nothing about him.
People often talk of having “a place in the country” a splendidly non-specific expression that means anything from a castle set in 10,000 acres that has been in the family since the reign of Elizabeth I to a rented potting shed. My place in the country in the 1990s was the latter.