“... have been repeated too often.Akerman was the daughter​ of immigrants. Her father, Jacob, was born in the Jewish district of Kraków in 1919. The family left for Danzig in 1923, where they remained for a year. The restoration of Polish sovereignty after the First World War had led to pogroms and they considered moving to Palestine, but at the port in ...”

“... the start of the 2007 season. Eleven pitches, trampled by hard-swearing enthusiasts, were lost. Anne Woollett of the Hackney Marshes User Group complained that the Olympic Development Authority (ODA) had sequestered portions of East Marsh, a year ahead of their promise, to construct ‘a huge 12-lane motorway’. The ODA admitted that two trenches had ...”

“... the Battle of Bannockburn?No, not that far. Your schooling. Your birthplace.King’s Lynn. I was born in Norfolk.Were both your parents Scottish?Yes.And your father was an engineer?Yes. A civil engineer, built sewers, I think.– Which is a very Scottish thing to be doing.Building sewers?No, being an engineer.In King’s Lynn where he had his job? This was ...”

“... against its return?About forty thousand​ people live in Blyth, 97 per cent of them British-born. It’s a town of small red brick terraces and newer red brick estates, a modest, low-rise, neat and tidy sort of place. When I arrived at the Campbells’, I saw a neighbour down on his knees on his immaculate driveway, rustproofing a drain cover. Deirdre ...”

“... better over there, but at least Westfield was near her now in White City. She was 31. ‘I was born in Egypt 11,426 days ago,’ she told one of her neighbours, pleased with the new app on her iPhone that could count days. Rania was a great fan of Snapchat, she posted there every spare minute she had, and on Instagram and Facebook, too. ‘I love ...”