Category Archives: Newspapers

Smallbeer, the Professor and Waugh

D J Taylor writing in the current issue of The Critic describes how Professor Barry Mole managed to eke a career out of the works of the largely forgotten 1930s poet Esme Smallbeer. This is the latest entry in his … Continue reading

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Two Essays: Orwell’s Comic Novels and Waugh’s Oxford

There are two well written and interesting essays this week relating to Waugh. The first is by Jonathan Clarke and appears in the quarterly City Journal. This is entitled “Orwell’s Humor” and relates mainly to his two 1930s comic novels … Continue reading

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Mid-May Roundup

—The Guardian, apparently in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the serialized publication of Waugh’s diaries, has posted a brief introduction by Chris Hall. Here’s an excerpt: The year 1973 saw a big serialisation of the private diaries of Evelyn … Continue reading

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Mother’s Day Roundup

–Nicholas Lezard writing in the New Statesman calls on Basil Seal to explain why asparagus (now coming into season in northerly climates) is the most sexy vegetable: … like all things sexy, it trembles on the edge of exploitation. In … Continue reading

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Toffs Floribundi: Costume Drama, Oxford and Brexit

–On the occasion on the release of a new Downton Abbey film, The Times has devoted several articles to the costume drama as a genre. These begin with Robert Crampton defining the genre. From his perspective, a costume drama must … Continue reading

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May Day Roundup

–The second part of Alexander Larman’s centenary recognition of Kingsley Amis has appeared in this month’s regular issue of The Critic. See previous post. He starts with an amusing description of Amis’s somewhat ramshackle acceptance of his Booker Prize for … Continue reading

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Nancy Spain, Yet Once Again

Duncan McLaren has added some interesting material to his discussion of the Summer 1955 attempts by Daily Express reporters Nancy Spain and Lord Noel-Buxton to gain entry to Waugh’s house Piers Court, near Dursley, Glos., to conduct an interview. This … Continue reading

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Roundup: Book List and Bullingdon

–Charles Moore writing in the Daily Telegraph has a story entitled “Not even the Queen’s Jubilee is safe from BBC preaching: There are good writers all across the Commonwealth, but Auntie insists on telling us that it knows best”. He … Continue reading

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Robert Morse (1931-2022) R.I.P.

American actor Robert Morse has died at the age of 90 at his home in Los Angeles. He is best known in this parish as the actor who played the role of Dennis Barlow in the 1960’s Hollywood adaptation of … Continue reading

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Tax Day Roundup

–Writing in The Tablet, former Anglican priest Chris Moody provides a remembrance of Septimus Waugh. He begins by recounting a visit, shortly before Septimus’s recent death, where Moody showed him the photo of his latest work as installed in an … Continue reading

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