“... and reported to King Leopold that Albert lacked nothing in charm and attractiveness – ‘it may also be considered a fortunate circumstance that he has already a certain English look about him’ – but that he seemed deficient in strength of will and intellectual and moral force. ‘To pursue so difficult a political career a whole life through ...”

“... now directed against the Communists, whom he held responsible for the division of Korea. In May 1954 Moon finally founded his Unification Church. Moon has always made extreme demands on his followers: they are enjoined to give up everything on becoming members of his flock, and have to work long hours for no pay – engaging in a plethora of activities ...”

“... in papal ideology and propaganda uses of Mary. I could surrender to its beauty. This new serenity may be connected to John Paul II having died in the interim. Perhaps. But I also think that I mind less about the dictates and precepts of the Catholic Church because its grip on ethics feels so much less confident these days and its pronouncements on women and ...”

“... of the murder was botched and that some of those who participated in the killing went free. It may be so. But what struck me was the abundant evidence in Marable’s book, as well as in Malcolm’s own, that his years with the Nation of Islam were only a prelude: he had a second act in ...”

“... something you can’t go to prison for and this has seemed to work fairly well, but the government may now extend the policy to crimes you could go to prison for. The government also proposes to introduce means testing: this seems like a good idea – why shouldn’t someone like Andy Coulson pay for his own lawyer? – but it has been shown to be ...”

“... democratic trends of their domestic politics was too embarrassing to endure indefinitely. They may not have willed the end; but they could not resist adopting the means. If they acquired the empire in ‘a fit of absence of mind’, they could be said to have lost it in much the same manner. Wilson rightly points out in his final pages what a modest impact ...”

“... DNA and restored to the bereaved. The blackened building, with its flayed grid and blind windows, may look like a ruin of war, but it also looms like a macabre charnel house chimney, a huge tomb of unidentified and unsolemnised dead. It stands like a stele, the ancient grave markers which were inscribed with the names of their occupants, often calling out to ...”

“... between us.’ The reader wonders what could possibly follow such a missive but separation and may be surprised to see no mention of it in Sonya’s next letter. Only those who assiduously check the footnotes will realise that it was never sent. Tolstoy remained utterly conflicted. He held these views but couldn’t act on them; life was more complicated ...”

“... Trump replied. “It’s all bullshit.”’ Woodward is repeating himself here, which means he may have got his notes muddled up. What’s more likely is that everyone was just saying the same thing over and over again. Trump wanted to bring the money home, especially from South Korea. In desperation, Cohn asked him emolliently: ‘So, Mr President, what ...”

“... punishments against which it is fighting today. A local paper in Texas informed its readers on 6 May 1922 that, after a thrilling manhunt, ‘three coloured men were burned here at dawn for the murder of Eula Ausley, pretty 17-year-old schoolgirl.’ The men – McKinley Curry, Johnny Cornish and Mose Jones – inconveniently delayed the proceedings by ...”

“... times prime minister of Great Britain and Ireland, died of a cancer of the palate on the 19th of May 1898. Ascension Day. It was fitting, Bill’s father said, for a Christian gentleman. It was at moments like these, he thought, when you could detect a pattern in the world. Now they were travelling to stand with the crowds and bear witness at Mr ...”

“... because, as he patiently explained, ‘one cannot think of the great all the time, though one may wish to do so’; but the line, with its illogic and deft metrical clumsiness, wears its helpless embarrassment on its sleeve. How else would you dwell upon the great except weakly?‘I think continually’ and ‘The Pylons’ are the sort of poem Spender ...”

“... affronted proportion and discretion. Into this world of affronted proportion and discretion, in May 1955, strode Joe Kennedy to arrange the wedding of his son the senator to Janet’s elder daughter. Although Janet and her husband wanted a quiet, discreet affair, the Kennedys viewed the wedding ‘as another political campaign to manage’. Janet moaned to ...”

“... which are followed by advice for curing sick cows. The anonymous compiler of this manuscript may have come home from a hard day at the cockpit to read how Homer’s fighting cocks kept themselves at the peak of fitness by eating ‘flesh of high hornd beeues, and drinking cups full crownd’, or about other mysterious Homeric dishes which always seem to ...”

“... in Meaux, where he was probably bullied, and where the older boys led a mini-insurrection in May 1968 – no doubt adding to his growing horror of leftist radicalism. But he made friends: plenty of Demonpion’s interviewees, from all periods of his life, report that although unusual and sometimes difficult, Houellebecq is also funny and charming. He ...”