E.S. Turner

E.S. Turner wrote his first article for the Dundee Courier in 1927. He contributed to Punch for 53 years, and wrote more than eighty pieces for the London Review. His last social history was Unholy Pursuits: The Wayward Parsons of Grub Street. He died in 2006.

In the LRB Archive:

• Catchers in the Rye: Modes of Comeuppance · 3 August 2006

  • Rural Reflections: A Brief History of Traps, Trapmakers and Gamekeeping in Britain by Stuart Haddon-Riddoch

• In Finest Fig: The Ocean Greyhounds · 20 October 2005

  • The Liner: Retrospective and Renaissance by Philip Dawson, foreword by Stephen Payne

• Paddling in the Gravy: Bath’s panderer-in-chief · 21 July 2005

  • The Imaginary Autocrat: Beau Nash and the Invention of Bath by John Eglin

• The Thought of Ruislip: the Metropolitan Line · 2 December 2004

  • Metro-Land: British Empire Exhibition Number by Oliver Green

• A Broad Grin and a Handstand: ‘the fastest woman in the world’ and the wild early years of motor-racing · 24 June 2004

  • The Bugatti Queen: In Search of a Motor-Racing Legend by Miranda Seymour

• Petting Cafés!: wartime spivs and dodgers · 4 December 2003

  • An Underworld at War: Spivs, Deserters, Racketeers and Civilians in the Second World War by Donald Thomas

• Madame, vous fatiguez les singes: The Tower Menagerie · 24 July 2003

  • The Tower Menagerie: Being the Amazing True Story of the Royal Collection of Wild and Ferocious Beasts by Daniel Hahn

• Bosh: Kiss me, Eric · 17 April 2003

  • Dean Farrar and ‘Eric’: A Study of ‘Eric, or Little by Little’, together with the Complete Text of the Book by Ian Anstruther

• In Praise of Barley Brew: Combustible Belloc · 20 February 2003

  • Old Thunder: A Life of Hilaire Belloc by Joseph Pearce

• Our chaps will deal with them: The Great Flap of 1940 · 8 August 2002

  • Dad’s Army: The Story of a Classic Television Show by Graham McCann

• Delightful to be Robbed: stand and deliver · 9 May 2002

  • Outlaws and Highwaymen: The Cult of the Robber in England from the Middle Ages to the 19th century by Gillian Spraggs

• Gas-Bags on the Graf Zeppelin · 15 November 2001

  • Dr Eckener’s Dream Machine: The Historic Saga of the Round-the-World Zeppelin by Douglas Botting

• White Peril on H. Rider Haggard · 20 September 2001

  • Diary of an African Journey (1914) by H. Rider Haggard

• Hallelujah Lasses on the Salvation Army · 24 May 2001

  • Pulling the Devil’s Kingdom down: The Salvation Army in Victorian Britain by Pamela Walker

• Morality in the Oxygen: tobogganing · 14 December 2000

  • How the English Made the Alps by Jim Ring
  • Killing Dragons: The Conquest of the Alps by Fergus Fleming

• Don’t lock up the wife on Georgina Weldon · 5 October 2000

  • A Monkey among Crocodiles: The Life, Loves and Lawsuits of Mrs Georgina Weldon by Brian Thompson

• Blowing Cigarette Smoke at Greenfly: The Beastliness of Saki · 24 August 2000

  • The Unrest-Cure and Other Beastly Tales by Saki

• Is the lady your sister? on an innkeeper’s diary · 27 April 2000

  • An Innkeeper's Diary by John Fothergill

• Uplifting Lust goes romancing · 6 January 2000

  • Passion’s Fortune: The Story of Mills and Boon by Joseph McAleer
  • The Romantic Fiction of Mills and Boon 1909-1995 by Jay Dixon

• The Crystal Palace Experience on the Great Exhibition of 1851 · 25 November 1999

  • The Great Exhibition of 1851: A Nation on Display by Jeffrey Auerbach

• Etheric Vibrations on Marie Corelli · 29 July 1999

  • The Mysterious Marie Corelli: Queen of Victorian Bestsellers by Teresa Ransom

• Gilded Drainpipes on London · 10 June 1999

  • The London Rich: The Creation of a Great City from 1666 to the Present by Peter Thorold
  • The Rise of the Nouveaux Riches: Style and Status in Victorian and Edwardian Architecture by Mordaunt Crook

• Walking on Eyeballs on the history of gout · 7 January 1999

  • Gout: The Patrician Malady by Roy Porter and G.S. Rousseau

• Suck, chéri on the history of sweets · 29 October 1998

  • Sugar-Plums and Sherbet: A Prehistory of Sweets by Laura Mason

• The water-doctors vanish on the social history of British spas · 4 June 1998

  • British Spas from 1815 to the Present Day: A Social History by Phyllis Hembry and Leonard Cowie

• Hogged · 22 January 1998

  • Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Eras by Terence Grocott

• The Sacred Sofa · 11 December 1997

  • The House of Lords: From Saxon Wargods to a Modern Senate by John Wells

• Subsistence Journalism · 13 November 1997

  • ‘Punch’: The Lively Youth of a British Institution, 1841-51 by Richard Altick

• A Very Good Job for a Swede · 4 September 1997

  • The Fu Manchu Omnibus: Vol. II by Sax Rohmer

• Mummy says I can’t play at your house anymore · 5 June 1997

  • Biting the Dust: The Joys of Housework by Margaret Horsfield

• The Female Accelerator · 24 April 1997

  • The Bicycle by Pryor Dodge

• Flashes of 15 Denier · 20 March 1997

  • Forties Fashion and the New Look by Colin McDowell

• Wounding Nonsenses · 6 February 1997

  • The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh edited by Charlotte Mosley

• Monstrous Millinery · 12 December 1996

  • British Military Spectacle: From the Napoleonic Wars through the Crimea by Scott Hughes Myerly

• Unmuscular Legs · 22 August 1996

  • The Dictionary of National Biography 1986-1990 edited by C.S. Nicholls

• Stormy Weather · 18 July 1996

  • Passchendaele: The Untold Story by Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson

• The Staidness of Trousers · 6 June 1996

  • A Peculiar Man: A Life of George Moore by Tony Gray

• Masculine, Assertive, Athletic and Elegant · 30 November 1995

  • Noël Coward: A Biography by Philip Hoare

• The Torturer’s Apprentice · 5 October 1995

  • The Railway Man by Eric Lomax

• Mighty Merry · 25 May 1995

  • The Diary of Samuel Pepys. Eleven Volumes, including Companion and Index edited by R.C. Latham and W. Matthews

• Gap-osis · 6 April 1995

  • Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty by Robert Friedel

• Glooms · 23 February 1995

  • Edward Lear: A Biography by Peter Levi

• Do Not Fool Around · 24 November 1994

  • A Passion for Wings: Aviation and the Western Imagination, 1908-1918 by Robert Wohl

• Wrong Trowsers · 21 July 1994

  • A History of Men’s Fashion by Farid Chenoune, translated by Deke Dusinberre
  • The Englishman’s Suit by Hardy Amies

• Shopping in Lucerne · 9 June 1994

  • Addicted to Romance: The Life and Adventures of Elinor Glyn by Joan Hardwick
  • Mother of Oscar: The Life of Jane Francesca Wilde by Joy Melville

• Fit only to be a greengrocer · 23 September 1993

  • Rider Haggard and the Lost Empire by Tom Pocock

• Snubs · 19 August 1993

  • The Descent of Manners: Etiquette, Rules and the Victorians by Andrew St George

• Above the kissing line · 28 January 1993

  • My Ascent of Mont Blanc by Henriette d’Angeville, translated by Jennifer Barnes
  • Backwards to Britain by Jules Verne, translated by Janice Valls-Russell

• E.S. Turner shocks the sensitive · 20 August 1992

  • Quartered Safe Out Here: A Recollection of the War in Burma by George MacDonald Fraser
  • Tyrants and Mountains: A Reckless Life by Denis Hills

• Phew! · 11 June 1992

  • Sunny Intervals and Showers: Our Changing Weather by David Benedictus

• Sorcerer’s Apprentice · 19 December 1991

  • Alistair MacLean by Jack Webster
  • Alistair MacLean’s Time of the Assassins by Alastair MacNeill

• Not bothered · 29 August 1991

  • The Bachelor Duke: William Spencer Cavendish, Sixth Duke of Devonshire, 1790-1858 by James Lees-Milne

• Uncle William · 13 June 1991

  • The Passing of Barchester: A Real-Life Version of Trollop by Clive Dewey

• ‘Turbot, sir,’ said the waiter · 4 April 1991

  • After Hours with P.G. Wodehouse by Richard Usborne

• Heroic Irrigations · 6 December 1990

  • The English Spa 1560-1815: A Social History by Phyllis Hembry
  • The Medical History of Waters and Spas edited by Roy Porter

• On my way to the Couch · 30 March 1989

  • On my way to the Club by Ludovic Kennedy

• Zero Hour · 29 September 1988

  • The Berlin Blockade by Ann Tusa and John Tusa

• Memoriousness · 15 September 1988

  • Memories of Times Past by Louis Heren
  • Chances: An Autobiography by Mervyn Jones

• Do what you wish, du Maurier · 31 March 1988

  • Maxwell by Joe Haines
  • Maxwell: The Outsider by Tom Bower
  • Maxwell: A Portrait of Power by Peter Thompson and Anthony Delano
  • Goodbye Fleet Street by Robert Edwards

• High Spirits · 17 March 1988

  • Living dangerously by Ranulph Fiennes
  • The Diaries of Lord Louis Mountbatten 1920-1922: Tours with the Prince of Wales edited by Philip Ziegler
  • Touch the Happy Isles: A Journey through the Caribbean by Quentin Crewe

• Disgrace Abounding · 7 January 1988

  • A Class Society at War: England 1914-18 by Bernard Waites
  • Working for Victory? Images of Women in the First World War by Diana Condell and Jean Liddiard
  • The Countryside at War 1914-18 by Caroline Dakers
  • When Jim Crow met John Bull: Black American Soldiers in World War Two Britain by Graham Smith

• Hairy · 1 October 1987

  • The war the Infantry knew 1914-1919: A Chronicle of Service in France and Belgium by Captain J.C. Dunn, introduction by Keith Simpson
  • Passchendaele: The Story behind the Tragic Victory of 1917 by Philip Warner
  • Poor Bloody Infantry: A Subaltern on the Western Front 1916-17 by Bernard Martin

• Trevelogue · 25 June 1987

  • The Golden Oriole: Childhood, Family and Friends in India by Raleigh Trevelyan

• Blacks and Blues · 4 June 1987

  • The Life of My Choice by Wilfred Thesiger
  • Worlds Apart: Travels in War and Peace by Gavin Young

• Keeping the peace · 2 April 1987

  • March to the South Atlantic: 42 Commando Royal Marines in the Falklands War by Nick Vaux and Max Hastings
  • Further Particulars: Consequences of an Edwardian Boyhood by C.H. Rolph

• Women of Quality · 9 October 1986

  • The Pebbled Shore by Elizabeth Longford
  • Leaves of the Tulip Tree by Juliette Huxley
  • Enid Bagnold by Anne Sebba

• Gloriosus · 4 September 1986

  • Monty: The Field-Marshal 1944-1976 by Nigel Hamilton

• Diners-out · 3 July 1986

  • Augustus Hare: Victorian Gentleman by Malcolm Barnes
  • Midway on the Waves by James Lees-Milne

• Superior Persons · 6 February 1986

  • Travels with a Superior Person by Lord Curzon, edited by Peter King
  • The Ladies of Castlebrae by A. Whigham Price
  • Lizzie: A Victorian Lady’s Amazon Adventure by Tony Morrison, Anne Brown and Ann Rose
  • Miss Fane in India edited by John Pemble
  • Explorers Extraordinary by John Keay
  • A Visit to Germany, Italy and Malta 1840-41 by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Grace Thornton
  • The Irish Sketch-Book 1842 by William Makepeace Thackeray
  • Mr Rowlandson’s England by Robert Southey, edited by John Steel

• Soldier, Sailor, Poacher · 3 October 1985

  • Great Britons: 20th-Century Lives by Harold Oxbury
  • The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes edited by Max Hastings
  • The Long Affray: The Poaching Wars in Britain by Harry Hopkins

• A Potent Joy · 4 July 1985

  • Hitler’s Rockets: The Story of the V-2s by Norman Longmate

• Educating Georgie · 6 December 1984

  • Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor by Anne Edwards

• Netherstocking · 1 December 1983

  • Just William, More William, William Again, William the Fourth by Richmal Crompton and Thomas Henry

• Earls’ Sons · 20 October 1983

  • The Man who was Greenmantle: A Biography of Aubrey Herbert by Margaret FitzHerbert
  • A Classic Connection by Michael Seth-Smith

• Funny Mummy · 2 December 1982

  • The Penguin Stephen Leacock by Robertson Davies
  • Jerome K. Jerome: A Critical Biography by Joseph Connolly
  • Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome, annotated and introduced by Christopher Matthew and Benny Green
  • The Lost Stories of W. S. Gilbert edited by Peter Haining

• Snooping · 1 October 1981

  • Nella Last’s War: A Mother’s Diary, 1939-45 edited by Richard Broad and Suzie Fleming

• Manners maketh books · 20 August 1981

  • Debrett’s Etiquette and Modern Manners edited by Elsie Burch Donald

• Steps · 16 July 1981

  • An Ensign in the Peninsular War: The Letters of John Aitchison edited by W.F.K Thompson

• Great Thoughts · 7 May 1981

  • The Macmillan Treasury of Relevant Quotations edited by Edward Murphy

• Greens · 3 July 1980

  • Friends of the Earth Cookbook by Veronica Sekules
  • Hedgerow Cookery by Rosamond Richardson
  • Jane Grigson’s Cookery Book by Jane Grigson
  • Cooking with Vegetables by Marika Hanbury Tenison
  • The Home Gardener’s Cookbook by Clare Walker
  • Natural Baby Food by Anna Haycraft

• Dear Sir · 15 May 1980

  • The Henry Root Letters

• Short Legs · 24 January 1980

  • Eminent Edwardians by Piers Brendon

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