Margaret is listening to The Archers and every time I try to say something she just says, "Shh!"

One day, the Queen came to tea with Princess Margaret. I stayed in the drawing room so that they could have some time together and she went off to the bedroom to find Princess Margaret. Quite soon after she had gone in, she reappeared.

'Oh, Ma'am, is everything all right?' I asked.

'No, it isn't,' the Queen replied. 'Margaret is listening to The Archers and every time I try to say something she just says, "Shh!"

A. Glenconner, Lady in Waiting (2019), 283-4

But, then, we were going to kill him - which, I suppose, was rather unlike the Mitfords

We had decided to make Hitler fall in love with us, which, when I think about it now, was rather like the Mitfords. But, then, we were going to kill him - which, I suppose, was rather unlike the Mitfords.

A. Glenconner, Lady in Waiting (2019), 23

The Letter to the Galatians is like the Rhône river before Lake Geneva, and the Letter to the Romans is like the Rhône river after Geneva

In fact, the key idea of the Letter to the Romans is already found in the Letter to the Galatians - but as one Swiss exegete nicely says, the Letter to the Galatians is like the Rhône river before Lake Geneva, and the Letter to the Romans is like the Rhône river after Geneva: above a mountain torrent, below a majestic river. The Letter to the Galatians was written in anger in one brilliant sitting, while the Letter to the Romans was written slowly, after dipping the pen repeatedly in the inkwell

E. Carrere, The Kingdom (2014), tr. J, Lambert, 169

Infuriatingly, this is a classic example of Carrere's lack of footnotes. Which Swiss exegete? Was it one of the dodgy ones?

One thing that surprises me as I advance in this story is that it has done so little to inspire religious imagery

One thing that surprises me as I advance in this story is that it has done so little to inspire religious imagery. Before getting started I would have sworn that everything in the New Testament had been depicted, again and again, in art. But while that's true of the life of Jesus and those of the saints who followed him - preferably if they suffered some gruesome martyrdom - leaving aside the conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus, almost the entire book that I scour page after page, the Acts of the Apostles, strangely escapes representation.

E. Carrere, The Kingdom (2014), tr. J, Lambert, 138

Bustamente had a teasing nature, which in his case took the form of leading a bloody revolution against colonial rule

The Jamaican Prime Minister, Sir Alexander Bustmente, was the living double of Obbie [12th Duke of] St Albans, and whenever I saw one of them, I always thought it was the other. Like Obbie, Bustamente had a teasing nature, which in his case took the form of leading a bloody revolution against colonial rule

D. Devonshire, Wait for me (2010), 212

You will not find a word in this to offend your protestant sympathies.

[Evelyn Waugh sends the Duchess of Devonshire a copy of his Life of Monsignor Ronald Knox]

The inscription read, 'To darling Debo with love from Evelyn. You will not find a word in this to offend your protestant sympathies.' There were no words - all the pages were blank. The perfect present for a non-reader.

D. Devonshire, Wait for me (2010), 156