So what were Shaw and Hemingway on about? Who was this writer of genius and great good humor? In the world of letters, or within the convivial setting of a tavern, he was an undeniable presence. The story runs thus: in the 1920s, Lawrence of Arabia wrote a letter to a friend. He had recently [...]
Edmund Burke’s "gambit"—his contribution to the long conversation with posterity—has endured. Burke understood that true wisdom resides with the permanent things, and these he sought to commend to generations yet unborn. Gibbon admired his eloquence. Matthew Arnold likened his legacy to Shakespeare and Milton. Hazlitt judged him the greatest writer of prose in English. Coleridge [...]
Every now and again, you meet someone you’ll remember for the rest of your life. Twenty-four years ago, I met Colin Welland, the Oscar-winning screenwriter for the now-classic film, Chariots of Fire. We were only together in Hollywood for a few days, but I feel as though I was given a lifetime of memories when [...]
It seems that H.L. Mencken always ranged the borderlands of faith—wary, yet vigilant. Did he ever pass beyond? When I was a boy, white-haired Alistair Cooke used to host “Masterpiece Theatre” on PBS. As I write these lines, I hear echoes of the theme music that opened each episode: the Rondeau from Mouret’s “Symphonies and [...]