The grand old man of nature writing continues his noble crusade
Richard Mabey is the grand old man of nature writing. He has produced 40 books in his noble crusade against…
An ambitious but selective account of all things Victorian and Edwardian
This is a monumental but inevitably selective survey of all that occurred in Britain, for better or worse, in the…
Stirling work with the SAS
The SAS was the first unit to be granted regimental status for generations. Its chief aim was to damage the…
Marlene Dietrich, George Orwell and the rebirth of a nation
The purpose of Lara Feigel’s book is to describe the ‘political mission of reconciliation and restoration’ in the devastated cities…
The second world war — according to Stalin’s ambassador to London
Ivan Maisky was the Russian ambassador in London from 1932 to 1943, and his knowledge of London, and affection for…
The honour of the Habsburgs was all that mattered to the imperial Austrian army
John Keegan, perhaps the greatest British military historian of recent years, felt that the most important book (because of its…
The very model of a modern duke
Miles Fitzalan-Howard was one of eight children of a fairly distant cousin of the previous two Dukes of Norfolk, and…
Mistress of the royal game
Marie of Romania (1875–1938), though little known to most readers today, was probably the most dynamic and effective royal consort…
‘The only man in Paris’
Eugenia de Montijo was born in a tent, during an earthquake, in Granada in 1826. Her father, a Liberal minor…
The third man
In the 1840s and 50s, Douglas Jerrold, Dickens and Thackeray were the three best known literary men in England, and…