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John le Carré, the German master
In 1956, before he was a famous spy novelist, David Cornwell came to teach at Eton. Among his pupils was Ferdinand Mount
Hats off to Napoleon and Wellington
The Emperor and the Duke both wore bicornes – in different styles. Now their hats are united, thanks to Nancy Astor. By Justin Davies
Insanely happy
Alan Crawford has learnt to be content, despite suffering from dementia for three years
Wasn't he so loverly?
Wilfrid Hyde-White was as charming and mischievous in real life as in My Fair Lady, remembers Simon Williams, his friend and co-star
My hostess? A banjo-playing prostitute
Exotic Lady Meux brought glamour, several Whistler portraits, and a Christopher Wren masterpiece to Maureen Lipman’s favorite hotel
Arts
Arts
Fine and dandy
The dandy style, created by Beau Brummell, was perfected by Oscar Wilde and Edward VIII. By Shaun Cole and Miles Lambert
Dirk Bogarde's lucky second act
Roger Lewis celebrates the centenary of a sad, dark actor who matured into a happy writer
A happy Hunter once more
At 85, widowed Hunter Davies is writing new books and finding young love. By Valerie Grove
I'm Dreaming Of A Dry Christmas
After decades in Drunkland, Mary Killen suddenly lost the taste for drink. She now sees the festive season in a whole new – clear – light
The Archers turns 70
Programme assistant Gill Powell taped Grange Farm’s turkey chicks, printed Phil Drabble’s Nature Notes – and made one awful mistake
What a swell party!
As coronavirus kills off Christmas parties, Charlotte Metcalf remembers friends who made the evening go with a swing
My gaudy nights
For 50 years, Oxford don Oswyn Murray welcomed back old pupils to his college – except for one in 10 Downing Street
Look back in candour
Lockdown led to a boom in autobiography. Frances Wilson gives you her tips on how to tell the story of your life
King of the Purbeck Stone Age
Treleven Haysom has been quarrying stone on the Isle of Purbeck for over 60 years – now he’s written the definitive book about it
Joe O'Biden's Irish home
County Mayo is adored by Hollywood, the US President-elect – and Dea Birkett
Guests from hell
When Tanya Gold moved to Cornwall, she invited lots of friends to stay – she won’t be asking them back for Christmas
Holy Hitch
Christopher Hitchens, the most famous atheist in the world, was a wonderful, generous godfather to Alice Cockerell
A very amateur performance
Nick Newman was thrilled to sign Burt Reynolds for his film. If only Burt had remembered his lines and hadn’t spent so much on wigs
Harvard's King of Comedy
Tom Lehrer went from satire genius to Ivy League maths professor. Now, at 92, the great man is giving away his archive.
Travels with my daughter
When pop star Florence Welch was asked to an Irish literary festival, she took her father Nick Welch along – and he loved it
Tolstoy's last stop
At 82, the great writer left his wife. He wanted to get hundreds of miles away but only made it to a nearby station.
My birthday odyssey
As he turned 70, Nigel Summerley followed in Odysseus’s footsteps from Italy to Ithaca
Transport of delight
Fifty years after The Railway Children film, Kate Garner makes a pilgrimage to the Yorkshire steam railway where it was made
Magic mushrooms
The joys of mushroom-hunting, the earthiest, most primordial form of foraging, are lyrically evoked in Colin Thubron’s Among the Russians (1983).
Master of Anglo-Saxon attitudes
Eighty years after he died, aged only 32, Pont still nails the British character.
Guilty men
Thirty years ago, Margaret Thatcher was toppled by three Conservative big beasts. Her old friend Norman Tebbit names them
English queen of a French vineyard
Béatrice Viennet reigned over Sotheby’s and the family vines
Dear Perry, my gallant knight
Lucinda Lambton salutes her husband, Sir Peregrine Worsthorne, the Sunday Telegraph editor who died in October aged 96
An Wilson – The Man Who Knows So Much
At 70, he’s written over 40 books but insists he isn’t clever. He tells Frances Wilson about Charles Dickens, sex and Meghan Markle