If you were a 1950s schoolboy you knew about Neville Duke, Roly falk and Peter … more

WHAT better time to ponder matters of life and death as Easter approaches? When better … more

IT is hard to believe it’s nearly a decade since foot-and-mouth, or rather the response … more

CIRCUSES are back on the agenda. Look in any village shop window or on any … more

IT is easy to condemn the Millbank fee riots: harder, or impossible, to condemn the … more

THIS article will reach you on St Thomas’ Day, December 21, or thereabouts – which is a … more

“THERE is a knowledge worth possessing for what it is, and not merely for what … more

AS I write, one TV channel has seven quizzes in a single week, so here’s … more

THIS month marks the 40th anniversary of the format and funding being agreed for an … more

THE silly season is here. Parliament is in recess, but this year it began early … more

“THE tumult and the shouting die”: as the racing pulses and rocketing blood pressure cut … more

COMPARED to the case for many years, war now seems to be more widely perceived … more

I NEVER thought there would be anything good to say about the virus that causes … more

THIS article has nothing to do with Sir Alex Ferguson rushing up and down the … more

IMAGINE that January 2010 happened in 1941: the headlines would have been “Britain surrenders; Naziparatroopers … more

THIS column’s 10th year is, like its first, an election year. This time, the date … more

THE season of benevolence is on us: Giftmastide. And to get it off to a … more

FROM motorway queues to rush-hour platforms, it has become the unspoken national motto, the embodiment … more

JUST as the Proms began, one of our leading conductors, together with his wife, exercised … more

ANYONE for tennis? The silly season has arrived. As I write, it is imminent but … more

It is 1920, and a war veteran and railway guard from south London (Albert Hill, … more

The above could especially be the case if they have severe diarrhoea. Otherwise, the local … more

AT last it’s here, the merry month; after mayhem, Maytime. But not before our treacherous … more

WALKING my dog in the last days of February, green shoots are really there to … more

AS we entered 2009 there was good news and bad news. The good news was … more

TEN years ago, in a lecture to the Royal Society of Arts, and published in … more

MOST attempts to foresee the year ahead, in any year, are doomed to failure. In … more

THE children sat patiently beneath the Christmas tree. Cracker carcases and discarded wrappers had all … more