15 MARCH 1997, page 41

Bringing Down The Curtains

Charles Powell ONCE A JOLLY BAGMAN by Alistair McAlpine Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £20, pp. 273 h is is an enchanting memoir until it gets on to politics, when it turns nasty.......

If We Shadows Have Offended

Anita Brookner A NICE CHANGE by Nina Bawden Virago, £15.99, pp. 192 .1•••••• I s it unfair to suggest that television has contributed to the dumbing down of contemporary......