Bloomsbury Stud – Sculptor, wrecker and seducer

A beautiful book, but a fairly orthodox biography of the Hon. Stephen “Tommy” Tomlin Bloomsbury Stud: The Life of Stephen “Tommy” Tomlin by Michael Bloch and Susan Fox M.A.B., £40.00 Despite its pornography–promising title, Bloomsbury Stud is a fairly orthodox...

A pre-lockdown magazine feature

The Amazon delivery guy rang the bell, then scampered off to safety behind the garden gate, a good distance, but not so far that he couldn’t hear and acknowledge my “thank you.” My wife is so far coping with her duties as a Parish Counsellor by attending meetings...

We shouldn’t be so squeamish about eating foie gras

Norman Kolpas argues that overfeeding geese mimics what pre-migratory birds do naturally, and our disapproval betrays an ignorance of bird physiology Foie Gras: A Global History Norman Kolpas Reaktion Books, pp. 152, £10.99 In his excellent, brief chronicle of foie...

Barbara Rose, art historian with a colourful private life

Barbara Rose, the internationally celebrated art historian, curator, critic and filmmaker, who has died aged 84, was a pioneer in several fields of scholarship, ranging from the art of Romanesque Spain to contemporary Minimalism. In the course of a career lasting...

A foodie in his element – Dirt (by Bill Bufurd)

Dirt: Adventures in French Cooking By Bill Buford, Jonathan Cape £18.99 Dirt has a bad name. What a shame that the UK publishers didn’t change the monosyllabic title of Bill Buford’s knotty, gripping memoir of restaurant kitchens in Lyon for British readers....