“... that the actions of the press’ – in publishing topless photographs of Fergie with Mr Bryan – ‘have aroused so little public indignation. It shows how low is the standing of the Duchess.’ Harris is fair to the point of paying tribute to Christopher Hitchens, but too much impartiality can be lethal: The Queen is a bore, even when it gets to ...”

“... now forever beloved. What an occasion; what reconciliations! (Why Marghanita, how do you do? Hi Bryan!) I was rather aware of Malraux at one moment, as it happened. During the Occupation he had hidden out in Roquebrune at La Souco, no doubt imagining his museum and other things, while my cousins-in-law, the Bussys, took refuge near their old friend at ...”

“... The Windsor Story, as ‘the greatest love story of the 20th century’ is here conveniently known, is essentially familiar. Whether it is seen as the tale of the fatuous young charmer and the intriguing, ambitious witch, or, as they themselves chose to present it, as the pathetic picture of two orphans of the storm, victimised by the hound Baldwin, the main facts on which it is based are widely known and the subject of little dispute ...”

“... so to speak, only two MPs in the House of Commons had ever heard the name, and both of them were Bryan Magee. This doesn’t prove the ideas wrong, or right. But it does indicate that even a small paper has to have more than one ...”

“... method of attack. The major factors were the manager’s persistence in playing his namesake Bryan Robson, who was indeed the obvious choice for the captaincy of the team, had he been physically fit, which he manifestly was not, and the combination of Wilkins and Hoddle in midfield, which limited the scope of Hoddle’s constructive talents without ...”

“... in gents’ suiting would scandalise the trading floor – a point brought home by a caption in Bryan Appleyard’s biography: Rogers about to leave Belsize Grove for the first Lloyd’s interview in the Yves St Laurent suit’. It was grey, bought specially for the occasion, and worn with a borrowed tie. Appleyard’s account of the historical and ...”

“... of the pro-Darwin teacher John Scopes pitted the attorney Clarence Darrow against William Jennings Bryan, the ex-Populist and fervent evangelical. Bryan, who had been secretary of state in Woodrow Wilson’s first administration, was persuaded to take the stand as a witness for the truth of the Bible; Darrow delighted his ...”

“... signing the Official Secrets Act, she was employed by the Political Warfare Executive at Milton Bryan, which pumped out ‘detailed truth with believable lies’, and was intended (like the broadcasts of Lord Haw-Haw from the other side) to rot enemy morale. She was there for less than six months, but it sensitised her to the fine line between ...”

“... so to speak, only two MPs in the House of Commons had ever heard the name and both of them were Bryan Magee. This doesn’t prove the ideas wrong, or right. But it does indicate that even a small paper has to have more than one readership.Scepticism, obliqueness of tone, dislike of cant and suspicion of enthusiasm, a dour sense of humour, delight in the ...”

“... behind him were 14 years old. The same question could be raised in relation to another singer, Bryan Ferry, or the actress Minnie Driver, or the broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby. How exactly did Epstein come to have ten numbers for Peter Mandelson? We are all, to some extent, defined by the company we keep, and if there are things we don’t notice about our ...”

“... of less well-trained men now kicking about in Bagram. That did not make it any easier for Major Bryan Hilferty, the US military spokesman who briefed the assembled media every morning at 9 a.m. His briefings always started with a reminder of how many days had passed ‘since al-Qaida terrorists murdered more than three thousand innocent men, women and ...”

“... feminism and ‘the incredible coherence’ of Andean culture. In a 2018 interview with Julia Bryan-Wilson, Vicuña said that ‘the physical act of making actions, exhibitions, objects and so forth … cannot change anything if it is not loaded with the clearest intent, and the most intense orientation, towards touching other forms of awareness.’ She ...”

“... Hynde, then working as one of her shop assistants, Westwood kept shouting ‘sexist bastard’ at Bryan Ferry until she was thrown out. For failing to show solidarity and leave with her, Hynde was sacked the next day. (‘Go with the flow,’ Westwood told her, pointing to the door, ‘it’s going that way.’) The salad of ideas that made up Westwood’s ...”

“... of the whole Greek corpus now come in a bumper volume, Collected Ancient Greek Novels, edited by Bryan Reardon.) This is teen-romance in its salad days. Fate separates young lovers; they travel through hostile climes, endure trials of life and virtue, come together and live happily ever after. The bad end badly, and the virgin end virgin (except that ...”

“... He is referring to passionate friendships with men – with the novelist Reynolds Price and with Bryan Obst, a zoologist who died of Aids in 1991, and was buried to the sound of birdsong. Stephen’s putative conversion to heterosexuality is treated here as a happy, if also unhappy myth. His accounts of intermittent meetings with Obst are well judged and ...”