Friends abroad

What did he think he was doing? The dazzling keyboard virtuoso Franz Liszt, toast of musical Europe, embarking on first one, then another, energy-sapping concert tour across swathes of Britain in 1840

AS the official residence of King Charles and the headquarters of the British monarchy, Buckingham Palace has been populated by many famous names over the decades. Since 1993, those of us not destined

This week’s dream: a tall ship adventure in ...

In the early 1890s a young Victor Goddet was working at the Vélodrome de l’Est, Paris. Every day a twenty-something rider arrived and every day Goddet studiously checked his pass. One day the rider qu

To cycle up a mountain is to pedal into a world of paradoxes. Mountains are a playground and a torture chamber; a means of outdoor adventure and inner discovery; an opportunity for wonder, a guarantee

The poet’s exasperation with his provincial upbringing