“... were, and how devoted to the language of passive suffering – even the bouncy Alpinist Frances Ridley Havergal, who ‘stands apart from the other women hymn-writers of the 19th century, if only because of her good health’. When the dog collar was first introduced, it was considered Romish, but it gradually spread until it became the uniform even of ...”

“... tenant with too colourful a professional life; Patrick Nicholls, suspected drunk driver; Nicholas Ridley, too loquacious an advocate of anti-German feeling; and Mrs Edwina Currie (‘most of the egg production in this country is, sadly, now infected with salmonella’). Then there is the long line of sex-scandal casualties: Cecil Parkinson, Tim Yeo, David ...”