"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford", said Samuel Johnson in 1777. Since then the capital has been characterised variously as a "riddle", a "cesspool" and a "modern Babylon", and both L...

Wilfred Owen is the poet of pity, the voice of the soldier maimed, blinded, traumatised and killed, not just in the Great War, but in all wars since, so resonant has his message become. Although he saw only five of his poems published in his lifetime...

How did German intelligence agents in the First World War use dead fish to pass on vital information to their operatives? What did an advertisement for a dog in "The Times" have to do with the movement of British troops into Egypt? And why did Britis...

In taking soup do not gurgle or make throat noises. Speak well of others or not at all is a good rule. "The Art of Good Manners" covers such topics as table manners, pronunciation, introductions, conversation, courtship and children's behaviour. It g...

...No fewer than two hundred thousand Germans were already upon English soil! The outlook grew blacker every hour. Eight years before the outbreak of the First World War, when national hysteria over the supposed presence of German spies in England gr...

"The Art of Letter Writing" gives over fifty examples of the perfect letter for any occasion. Unsure how to break off an engagement, accept an invitation to a country house weekend, complain about a courier or write to a countess? This book contains...