11 FEBRUARY 1989, page 41

All The Boys In All The Bands

Kingsley Amis Columbus Books, £35, pp.280 F rom the outside the Grove dictionary looks expensive all right, if not quite up to what is surely a lot of money for something under......

The Victor Hugo Of Historians

Douglas Johnson THE IDENTITY OF FRANCE: VOLUME I: HISTORY AND ENVIRONMENT by Fernand Braudel translated by Sian Reynolds Collins, f20, pp.432 F ernand Braudel was born in 1902......

Differing With Dr Donne

Don't batter my heart, three-personed God. Father, Son and Spirit, somewhere else employ Your powers. The dents I have are no great bother, And too many cooks could spoil this......