Category: History

A Dolls’ House

I have finished The Quest for Queen Mary. There was one more especially enjoyable piece: James Pope-Hennessy’s visit to Copenhagen to meet Prince and Princess Axel of Denmark.

The Quest

I enjoyed Hugo Vickers’ diaries written when he was writing Cecil Beaton’s biography (Malice in Wonderland) so it was just a step back of thirty years to James Pope-Hennessy’s diaries when he was writing Queen Mary’s biography.

Courage Never to Submit

Mary Alison was born in Northumberland and like many Northumbrians had determination and great reserves of strength; she was to need both.

Up at the Net

Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia was thirty-three when this was published in Vanity Fair.

Published
Categorised as Art, History

Milkmaids’ Passage

There was a smutty joke at school. “What went up Judy’s Passage?” “Lupton’s Tower.” This passage connects The Green Park with a courtyard at the end of St James’s Place, previously a stable yard.

Best Friends?

The bond between Churchill and Roosevelt is often cited in histories of the war.

The Mustang

Lynne Olson’s history of WW II (Citizens of London) has some interesting angles.

Who Won the War?

There are two pleasures on Sunday morning: not reading the Sunday papers, and reading The Spectator.