As winter relinquishes its grip, Tessa Waugh enjoys a copybook meet, with convivial chat, springy turf and good sport – while the real hunting aficionados demonstrate their teleporting skills

Catherine Clarke A History of England in 25 Poems400pp. Allen Lane. £25. Mark Forsyth Rhyme and ReasonA short history of poetry and people (forpeople who don’t usually read poetry)368pp. Allen & Unwin

With 36 years in hunt service behind him, Robert McCarthy is one of the country’s most senior and most respected huntsmen. He talks to Tessa Waugh about Crufts, the current situation and life in Northumberland

You wouldn’t guess from the cover design—three songbirds silhouetted over swatches of picturesque Englishness—but Catherine Clarke’s A History of England in 25 Poems hits one of its sweet spots with a

H&H’s hunting editor Catherine Austen ponders the lasting impressions that influential hunting people can make on us

● It had been, until that point, an ...