Folklore survey redux

Picture the scene: a former NHS chef ‘Clem’ Clements is celebrating his 98th birthday, sitting in his front room surrounded by his medications, an oxygen mask and a discreet tape recorder. He is recal

I’ve recently come to the end of editing The Exeter Companion to Changeling Lore, with a team of international scholars. In fact, for much of the last two years, preparing this book, I’ve not been abl

What do our beloved hostelries have to do with the discovery of DNA, the D-Day landings and The Lord of the Rings ? Everything, as Ashleigh Arnott discovers

“As movers and the moved both know”, John Updike noted, “books are heavy freight ... They make us think twice about changing addresses.” Books: A manifesto, or, How to build a library begins with the

The new Turner Prize (this time, for craftspeople) ...

● CERTAIN PHRASES, LIFTED FROM famous writers, ...