Tuesday, 6 October 2015

Who do you regard as the greatest living historian?

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Although Alan [A.J.P. Taylor] was by the 1970s a fairly marginal member of the College, he would always make a point of attending the viva ...
Wednesday, 30 September 2015

Nothing is said about killing off nine-tenths of the population, which would have to be the first step

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I am for scrupulously preserving the most enchanting bits of it [Old England], such as the cathedrals and the colleges and the Cotswolds, a...
Tuesday, 29 September 2015

If you want to know the difference between working for the glory of God and working for the benefit of debenture-holders, simply take a journey and keep your eyes open

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You go up and down this country and what makes you jump with astonishment and delight is something that has been there for at least five hu...
Monday, 28 September 2015

After you have seen it, you realise that it is not for likes of us to be sorry for ourselves

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I did explore the Tyneside, and have not been genuinely sorry for myself since; though at times I have caught myself at the old drooping tri...
Friday, 25 September 2015

It is absurd to be merely gentlemanly about it, like the Church of England, or drab and respectable, like the Nonconformists

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I stayed there a few minutes [listening to the Salvation Army band], and came to the conclusion that if I could persuade myself to believe ...
Thursday, 24 September 2015

Behind all these new movements of this age ... [has been] the mental attitude of a gang of small town louts ready to throw a brick at the nearest stranger

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Bradford is really more provincial now than it was twenty years ago. But so, I suspect, is the whole world. It must be when there is less a...
Tuesday, 22 September 2015

Port drinkers appreciate the tepid warmth of the fading aristocracy

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Port should be sipped and not drunk. This is partly because of its velvet body, and partly by way of parsimonious affectation. Let others a...