Biography
Very Young Ladies and the Tramp
Peter Ackroyd’s new biography shows that Charlie Chaplin was an incorrigible womaniser but a brilliant innovator
What Makes Her Tick?
Will the real Angela Merkel please stand up? After reading Stefan Kornelius’s official biography the German Chancellor remains a mystery
Literary Biography is on Life Support
The art of recording a writer’s career will have to be reinvented to survive in the internet era
Why Remoaners should back Boris
“Boris, ironically, now offers Remoaners the best chance of a soft Brexit, or at least a sensible one. And to those who want a second referendum—’the people’s vote’—there may even be a chance of that too.”
On the road
“In the summer of 1980, in the grip of some Kerouac-ish fantasy, I opted to hitch-hike from Laredo to New York”
Discovering the Great War of China
A third of a million Chinese labourers helped the Allies defeat the Kaiser, but their huge unsung contribution ended in betrayal