We may fuss and fume about true-Brit companies like Rolls-Royce and Rover being sold off to the Germans, but it’s time to let go. Nowadays, if a car appears to embody national characteristics (from the clinical efficiency of BMW to the passion of Alfa Romeo), it will be due as much to its marketing as [...]
“My brother was an experienced captain and, quite frankly, not a risk taker.”It is easy to be an armchair captain and, with the benefit of hindsight, judge actions taken in haste and desperation. But if you look at the course of action adopted by March, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the intense [...]
Upper-middle-class angst is everywhere as the successful try to cope with long hours at work and The Ivy restaurant; demanding nannies; private schools that make it so hard for your little honey to get in; bloody nuisance disputes with France that make one uncomfortable drinking fine French wines; too much loveless sex; and the unbearable [...]
I hear her parents are very proud and don’t like the idea of charity I also don’t want to be seen as a Lady Bountiful What do you think I should do?Yours sincerely, Cathy. She really impressed me with her enthusiasm, and I was appalled when I heard that she was unable to take a [...]
In so far as, from 1936 until his death in 1976, the fortunes of Communism and the fortunes of Mao himself were the same, Short delivers a comprehensive political narrative. Fortified by his previous incarnation as BBC Peking correspondent, and unprecedented access, he threads his way through the Byzantine palace intrigues that form the context [...]
Good chance to spot potential friends and socialites since I’d just moved to the office base in Berkshire from my home in London.Afternoon was spent shadowing people and then going round building sites. Next stage was actual work – looking through documents and attempting to understand what I’d be doing, ie dealing with architects, planning [...]
Just as for Lord Lundy, in Hilaire Belloc’s cautionary tale, the press was squared, the middle classes all prepared.Then, by the evening, it had begun to unravel badly. Suddenly it looked as though Mr Livingstone would be dropped from the shortlist. Which was what Mr Dobson wanted and told the Prime Minister he wanted, not [...]
Indeed, from Martin D’Arcy’s day, the English Province, as it then was, took a certain pride in exercising the art of the amateur Not so Lovell. His major work was as Superior of the Guyana Mission in South America, where his staff-officer qualities were given full rein.
The only son of a soldier, Major E.H. Lovell, [...]
The move was triggered by the completion of the sale of Securicor’s 40 per cent stake in BT Cellnet to British Telecom for pounds 3bn, a deal which has left Securicor especially vulnerable to a bid after it returned the proceeds to shareholders.It is understood that several institutions, including Threadneedle Asset Management, have been buying [...]
Magazines such as Money Management have regular performance surveys on endowments.n Contacts: BP Sanders, 01442 876333; Friends Provident, 01722 413366; Standard Life, 0131-245 0178; Chartwell, 01225 321700. To find an independent adviser, call IFA Promotions on 0117-971 1177.. Everybody has their own reason for investing for capital growth. You might be saving for early retirement, [...]
The vibe is laid-back; it’s like a mini Glastonbury Festival, and a real find for backpackers in Central America.”Where: Ferry Jetty, San Pedro, Guatemala (contact Deano at Sparrow101 hotmail ).How much: free.10 De Melkweg, AmsterdamDe Melkweg (“Milky Way”) has been messing with the mainstream since opening on an Amsterdam dairy site way back in 1970. [...]
To avoid the feeling that this kind of history is one damn thing after another, he interrupts his mellifluous flow with chapters on individuals, though significantly more patrons than artists: William of Wykeham, Cardinal Wolsey, the Earl of Arundel, Horace Walpole, Prince Albert (who in an inappropriate slip into demotic he calls a “dynastic stud”).Strong’s [...]
Perhaps it’s something in the water, but Bristolians seem to have something of a fixation with objects flying over their heads. The Ashton Court estate in Bristol is the venue for an annual ballooning regatta and this weekend the same venue hosts a weekend of kite flying. The festival begins with a demonstration by the [...]
Here are the Piranesi drawings that Soane displays so ingeniously on pull-out rods in his picture gallery at home, and a huge canvas painted by his fishing partner, JW Turner, that Soane commissioned for his house but sent back as he didn’t like it, now on loan from the Tate. Like any capricious impresario of [...]
Trench warfare is like a long series of drawn five-day Test matches laid end to end. “Writing a history of the Great War was very like writing a history of cricket. During a lull in play I asked him if, as a historian, he had considered writing a history of cricket.”In a sense, I already [...]
But most of all they will be there to cheer on the peace process. Two years ago they went on a swing through England that included stop-offs at Lord’s and Hambledon as well as an appointment for tea with Prince Edward at Buckingham Palace.And now they are preparing for a follow-up tour, a 19-day trip [...]
Nowadays, junkies’ syringes lie underfoot and its columns are daubed with graffiti.Although sanatoriums were found across the country, the Black Sea was considered a prize destination, reserved for party bigwigs. Today, the Odessa Sanatorium has passed into the hands of the Ukrainian Secret ServiceFrom neo-classical to concrete, Black Sea sanatoriumsNeo-classical architecture found favour with the [...]
Mark sent me the music from America which I listened to and then I sent him the design, which was made into a backdrop, and then he choreographed using the music and the backdrop. The first time I ever saw a theatre design I’d done, for Covent Garden, I just couldn’t believe the scale, a [...]
“I feel at home working here.”Philip Livingstone50s, game show producerResident for three yearsPhilip’s daughter is happy to visit his one-bed flat overlooking the car park in the rear courtyard. I bought the chandelier in France – isn’t it just right? But my girlfriend refuses to come here.”Alan Bayne50s, architectWorked in this studio for two yearsAlan [...]
It’s not the glittery thing of having a concept.” About her reportage, which she admits is not often easy on the eye, she once said: “I don’t take pictures to put in a box. It was part of a story commissioned by Life magazine but, in the end, it never ran. “I went in,” she [...]