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History

Edwardian Advertisements

Saturday 24 Apr 2010

The Strand Magazine appeared monthly in London from 1891 to 1950, with a healthy circulation of 300,000 to 500,000. Famously it was the publication that introduced Sherlock Holmes to the world, but many great names like H.G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, Max Beerbohm, Dorothy Sayers, P.G. Wodehouse and Winston Churchill also wrote for it. My two copies from 1907 are crammed with advertising.

Biography

The Life of Nelson

Friday 2 Apr 2010

Nelson is a monumental subject: he did a lot and wrote a lot, and has been much talked about. So it’s not surprising that this is a weighty book. But the character it describes is so engaging and its author is such a wise and informative guide that the 700-odd pages slip by quite easily. It’s a mighty biography that deserves to be better known. Nelson has long since gone out of fashion as a public idol. These days people tend to be wary of great national heroes.

Biography

Leigh Bowery: the Life and Times of an Icon

Wednesday 17 Mar 2010

A lot of people are casually called “icons,” but Leigh Bowery really deserved the name. In fact it’s hard to think of a better description for him. Nobody who was half conscious in London in the 1980s and 1990s can have missed him, or forgotten him: he made it his business to be unforgettable.

But how would we describe him to the ignorant youngsters of today? What was it he actually did again?