Contains scenes of …
Now, there's a concept, censoring for blandness rather than violence and passion. Wonder if the film was a hit...
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Self-hatred in marzipan
Winder’s personal asides delight me and often express a curious ambivalence towards things he tries to disdain. The marzipan lamb...
Futility worth reading about
I like the idea that something about futility is written so splendidly that it’s worth reading before you give up...
Mead-crazed ancestors
Since ancient Britain was steeped in German genes, not to mention mead, I fear these may be my ancestors too....
Haut-bourgeois scoffers
Burlington Berty who rose at 10.30 and strolled along like a toff would have approved the scoffing, though he'd have looked...
Diplodocus-filled hall
A diplodocus is a huge herbivore dinosaur; perhaps it once in a while crashed into early human habitation. Could such ancient...
Intellect as desert
Prince Albert’s interests outshining his fellow royals to such a stark extent suggests an alarming intellectual aridity. Reminds me of...
Daft and marginal
I liked this description of a region being 'daft-and-marginal' before splitting in two, with one half somehow managing to rule...
Near-Dakotan awfulness
With apologies to Dakotans, but Winder's lack of political rectitude is part of his charm, and you can be assured it’s...
Alert to danger
This made me laugh out loud when reading Simon Winder's Danubia late one night. Parents ever-so-delicately trying to inveigle their...
Lacquer-black Vltava
Lovely vowel harmony in that 'lacquer-black', it deserves to entirely supplant the boringly bog standard 'pitch black'. Do me a...
Wine and conveyor belts
There must be a good study of wine in European trade and war. England’s sometime claim to half of France...
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