In spring 1953, Britain was looking forward. After the trauma of the war and its aftermath, people were no longer focused simply on surviving. Thanks in part to the postwar settlement and welfare stat

8 FEBRUARY

I HOPE this is the last time I’ll sit at home watching the Winter Olympics on telly,” I said. Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were kneeling on the ice. “In four years’ time, I want to be there, cov

Best books… Roy Foster The emeritus professor of ...

Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz Berlin ShuffleTranslated by Philip Boehm256pp. Pushkin. £18.99. The exhumation of Alexander Boschwitz (1915–42) is one of the more pleasing literary stories of recent times.

Enrique Vila-Matas Montevideo Translated by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott 240pp. Yale University Press. £14.99 (US $27). “Words are poor mountaineers and poor miners”, lamented the young Franz Kaf