Stuff

The Spectator
My inability to remember which Seventies sitcom character referred to somebody’s knickers as ‘harvest festivals’ (because ‘all is safely gathered in’) has long troubled me, but the matter is now resolved. Ronnie Barker’s Fletch had seemed the most likely candidate, or possibly Sid James in something or other with Frankie Howerd, just a shot in the dark. The navy-blue knee-length knickers issued to recruits in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force during the… Read on If the cup fits …

The Telegraph
The ‘gentleman’ who sidled into the rare books shop where I work came to offer a first edition of Under Milk Wood signed by Dylan Thomas. He seemed a little furtive – and with good reason. Thomas never lived to see his book in print. The ’19 whiskies’ which took him – gently or otherwise – into that good night had done so… Adjusting the Flyleaf

The Spectator
As the dust slowly settles around the banking world’s Ground Zero, it’s instructive to peer into the hole and ponder the options that remain open to those who are reluctant to keep what’s left of their filthy lucre in the… In a Rich Man’s World