So, The Day of Reckoning has finally arrived. As Scots - or rather, current residents of Scotland - head to the polling booth with the fate of the Union on a knife-edge, our own Daniel Kalder explains, particularly for the benefit of non-Britons, what the hell is going on with the ... Read More...
General
Ever tried to write a novel that wasn't worthless? Douglas considers talent, mediocrity, the limits of creativity and the art of appreciation... In A Mathematician’s Apology G.H. Hardy estimates that only five or ten people in a hundred can do something “rather well.” Considerably fewer are truly gifted. We do not each have ... Read More...
Guest contributor Bill Atkinson shares a tale penned by an Edwardian lady about a little dog. It suggests that 100 years ago they had rather different ideas about what was deemed suitable for children's entertainment... Sandy was the favorite pet of Edith Monro Armstrong (b. 1874, d 1960), an Edwardian lady, Doctor's wife, chatelaine, accomplished ... Read More...
Nige remembers one half of "the unfunniest double act ever to have been described as 'comedy'"... This coming Saturday is truly a red-letter day in the annals of showbiz, for it was on 6 September in 1932 that Bernie Winters (Weinstein) was born. Bernie joined his brother Mike in what was ... Read More...
In advance of his appearance on BBC Radio4 this evening, Daniel Kalder takes us for a trip around a dictator's digital archive. make sure you tune in this evening to find out more... Stalin, like all murderous totalitarian tyrants, was big on secrecy. It’s therefore probably a safe bet to assume ... Read More...
Douglas Dalrymple considers American attitudes to genealogy and knowing one's place... Uncle Marv numbers his socks with permanent marker, “1” for left and “2” for right. That way he gets each one on the correct foot and his toes are happy. He’s retired now but used to work on computers for ... Read More...
Exclusively for The Dabbler, here is a glorious extract from Jonathan Meades' new memoir An Encyclopaedia of Myself. Sign up to the free Book Club at the bottom of the piece for a chance to win a copy... Dabbler editor Brit recently described 'An Encyclopaedia of Myself' as having a 'perfect ... Read More...
Steerforth discovers a once-popular but now largely forgotten thriller writer with a unique way with words... The truth is that even the most experienced and well-qualified second-hand booksellers know bugger all about most of the titles that we sell. Much of the time, we are not selling Eliot (George or T. ... Read More...
Keats, Chatterton, Shelley, Byron, Wollenstone, Burns... they all died in their prime. But what would it have meant, for art and for the world, if they had lived their full three score and ten? Professor Nick Groom offers a counterfactual history of the long-lived Romantics... What would have happened if John ... Read More...
Some sound advice for our younger readers today, as Steerforth discovers a 1950s sex guide for boys... Not long ago I found a very instructive book called On Becoming a Man - A Book for Teen-Age Boys by Harold Shryock, M.A., M.D., a teacher at the University of Loma Linda in California. Published in ... Read More...