Day: August 21, 2015

‘Down the hatch’ – a brief history of the cocktail

It’s summer, it’s hot, and I’m up to my eyes in researching the next book… Happily, it doesn’t always have to be the heavy stuff. Today I’m looking into cocktails – specifically, those popular between the ‘Jazz Age’ of 1925 or thereabouts, and the early 1930s. In this endeavour, I’ve been assisted by a book, Read More

How I learned to love the Bloomsbury Group

I must confess that I started watching ‘Life in Squares’, the new three-part drama about the Bloomsbury Group, which was recently shown on BBC2, with considerable reservations. What on earth was there left to say about these – to be frank – rather self-indulgent and privileged people, that hadn’t already been said in a host Read More