From football to fish and chips, from tabloids to faithlessness – a remarkable number of facets of modern British life can be traced to the ‘Age of Equipoise’, and specifically to the year 1860, argues Henry Jeffreys… In 1860 a Jewish man called Joseph Malin in the East of London had … Read More…
About Author Profile: Henry Jeffreys
Why does nobody bother to check their voicemail messages any more? Henry Jeffreys investigates the strange death of the answerphone… Have you noticed how nobody seems to call you back anymore? Don’t worry, it’s not because people don’t like you, the truth is that many people and even businesses no longer regularly … Read More…
Literary Britain is a very small world, argues Henry Jeffreys, it really does need more ‘diversity’ – and that means publishing books by people who don’t agree with you about everything… My three year old daughter’s nursery school has a diversity officer. On the wall in her classroom is the word … Read More…
In the Autumn issue of the excellent literary quarterly Slightly Foxed, our own Henry Jeffreys writes about the late David Nobbs’ novel The Death of Reginald Perrin… It was eerie the first time I watched the Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin because it all felt so familiar. I’d bought a DVD … Read More…
Launching our new series in which writers share their favourite pubs, Henry Jeffreys waxes lyrical about a proper boozer that celebrates diversity East End-style… Before moving to Lewisham (or Blackheath as I sometimes say when in polite company) a couple of years ago, I spent twelve years living in the East … Read More…
Henry explains how he made a (very) small fortune speculating on wine… Back in 2010 I decided to squander/ invest the last of my redundancy money on some En Primeur Bordeaux. I know that makes me sound like a former Goldman Sachs employee splashing out on a case of Le Pin … Read More…
It’s the trendy white wine of the moment – but how good is Picpoul de Pinet, asks Henry… If you’re anything like me, you’ll be desperate to know what the big names of the British wine world, yer McQuittys, yer Becketts, yer Moores, have been drinking this summer. To a woman this year, they have … Read More…
Henry accidentally invents a new drink.. One of the drawbacks of having a wife who doesn’t drink very much is that it often means I drink more. Brought up by thrifty parents and taught at school to always finish what was on my plate, I hate to see things go to … Read More…
What does it actually mean to call a wine ‘natural’ or ‘organic’? Henry explains all… There’s a café near me that has the following on the sign outside ‘Ethical, sustainable, local, organic.’ The sign seems to work as the place is doing a roaring trade. It got me thinking about what … Read More…
Can you buy an ordinary bottle of wine, stick it in your garage for a few years and expect it to improve with age? Henry Jeffreys tries a scientific experiment… It’s not often I get told off for not talking about wine. In fact a few years ago a flatmate bought me … Read More…