Philip Ziegler

No Rose without a thorn

The waspish columnist was a well-informed snob, and quite capable of biting the noble hands that fed him material

issue 15 December 2018

Kenneth Rose was gossip columnist by appointment to the aristocracy and gentry. He was, of course, a snob — nobody could write a social column in the Sunday Telegraph for more than 50 years without some snobbish instincts — but he was an intelligent one, singularly well-informed, and capable from time to time of administering a sharp bite to the noble hands that fed him his material.

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