“... Well I’m sure I saw an ashtray as I was coming in.’ ‘That was holy water.’ In the light of these accessories, more often to be met with in Roman Catholic establishments, it was hardly surprising if some of the congregation were in doubt as to the church’s denomination, which was actually Anglican, though a bit on the high side. ‘I can ...”

“... away,’ Uncle Vanya says, when hope is gone. ‘Work! We’ve got to get to work!’ Early in Alan Sillitoe’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Arthur Seaton stuffs a packet of sandwiches and a flask of tea into his pocket and is soon at work amid the generators and milling machines. ‘He pressed the starter button, and his motor came to life with a ...”

“... of why there should be a lot more public expenditure now than in 1913, they shed too little light on the actual, rather messy dynamics of that growth. Of course, good old-fashioned politics have played their historical part, especially at moments of high drama – the creation of the modern welfare state, the vain pursuit of a non-inflationary boom in ...”

“... disconcerted when he tells her he’s ‘a bad boy’ and once did a girl in: ‘Even in the dim light she could see that his eyes were cold as lumps of haddock.’ This is a hell of a fright in the middle of the night, but Doris is a tough stick and conceals her shame and fear enough to lead her companions in raucous singing on the coach home the next ...”

“... heavy drinking, Chandler adored his wife. ‘For 30 years, ten months, and four days, she was the light of my life, my whole ambition. Anything else I did was just the fire for her to warm her hands at.’ A few years into his marriage, however, at the height of his business success, Chandler ruined himself with drink. Threatening suicide during his alcohol ...”

“... things will take care of themselves. The struggle is for the heart, for its claim to stand in the light and cast a shadow its own in the sun. Little wonder, then, that the plot of At Swim, Two Boys hurtles relentlessly towards Easter 1916: both Irish nationalism and queer nationalism locate their mythological origins in an urban riot. Impertinent as it might ...”

“... military allies in the practice of torture for decades. Even the ‘liberal’ argument cited by Alan Dershowitz is suspect: ‘I’m not in favour of torture, but if you’re going to have it, it should damn well have court approval.’ When, taking this line a step further, Dershowitz suggests that torture in the ‘ticking clock’ situation is not ...”

“... down for the winter. Raindrops prickled on the dark water just above where it filled with cold light as it curved out to leap through the sluice. It was the kind of thing Leonardo da Vinci liked to draw. Leonardo hadn’t been here, of course, but nearly everybody else had. Not only Rupert Brooke had been down at the Mill. Rutherford had sat here on the ...”

“... It is impossible to give a full list, but among those chosen were Peter Quennell, Feliks Topolski, Alan Ross, Kenneth Tynan and Charles Addams, as well as a lot of extras with names like Old B., the Bastard and Chuff. She did not waste her time with intellectuals, but absorbed their appreciation of art and literature. She has always got her nose in Henry James ...”

“... The producers were Barry Levinson and his partner, Mark Johnson. We had first met when Levinson, Alan Parker and I had dinner in London. It was a wonderfully smug affair: the last three films we had directed, Rain Man, Mississippi Burning and Dangerous Liaisons, had between them received 23 Oscar nominations. Levinson himself was to have made Donnie Brasco ...”

“... explains why egg whites can be beaten stiff more easily in a copper bowl, why poultry has dark and light meat, why sauces thicken, why pastry dough needs to rest, why bread rises, what browning does to foods, and countless other alchemical aspects of the kitchen. Possibly because his training straddles two disciplines, McGee is quite prepared to admit, on ...”

“... that Alistair McAlpine was writing his memoirs some optimists hoped he might match the diaries of Alan Clark, whose sustained and entertaining indiscretions caused such exquisite pleasure. No such luck. At least three-quarters of McAlpine’s book is a dreary account of a dreary life, whose most interesting passage is a tip about how to ...”

“... were three government ministers, William Waldegrave from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Alan Clark from the DTI and Lord Trefgarne from Defence. On the agenda was what to do about the export of arms and arms-related equipment to the Gulf region in light of the changed circumstances brought about by peace. To the ...”

“... In short, this is where you get off, reader; I’ll continue alone, on foot, in the failing light, following the trail as it steadily fades into road-repairs, birdsong, the weather, nirvana, the plot thinning down to a point so refined not even the angels could dance on it. Goodbye. You’ve been taken for a ride, in other words, and the mixture of ...”

“... He made music for every possible mood: something to play during the snoozy afternoon, a 12-inch to light up the dancefloor later on, and some sonic mist for your early morning chill-out. He even recorded two versions of some songs, one for the club and one for hi-fi or headphones: a vibrant oil painting followed by its preparatory sketch. Listening to the ...”