The centenary of the Russian Revolution in 1917 is an apposite time for a fresh book on this momentous event. Helen Rappaport, a British historian whose specialities include revolutionary Russia,[…]
Truth can indeed be stranger than fiction, otherwise how to explain two murderous London gangsters becoming legendary household names after courting publicity and mixing with celebrities, then, when finally incarcerated,[…]
In 1966 Bob Dylan concerts were booed on three continents as devotees berated their favourite folkie protest singer for “going electric” and hitting the road with a stompin’ rock band[…]
When the Second World War began In September 1939, the six young Jarman sisters were among the many children quickly evacuated from their London homes – in danger of Hitler’s[…]
“If she loves music, why does she do this,” a sufferer asked after hearing one of Florence Foster Jenkins’ catastrophic singing performances. Jenkins herself put it another way: “People may[…]
Manchester, summer 1968, finds little Johnny Maher, almost five years old, staring through the window of Emily’s corner shop – as he did whenever he and Mum passed – at[…]
Twelve-year-old Martin Fletcher narrowly escaped death on May 11, 1985 when 56 people died and at least 265 were injured in a devastating fire in Bradford City football club’s ramshackle[…]
Uzon, March 2010 In an ice-cold castle I meet Zsigmond Mikes, a large, circumspect man, born in 1977 in Oradea, the Romanian town not far from the Hungarian border, who[…]
Fugad, March 2010 I’ve told Farkas Bánffy I’ll arrive at the end of the afternoon. I take a narrow road southwards. It’s an unfamiliar route. In Transylvania the minor roads[…]
Turn to any wine club outside Hungary and it is quite likely that, if there is any Hungarian wine on their list at all, it will be Tokaji. This is,[…]
