24 FEBRUARY 1979, page 22

Portraits

Benny Green Sinister Street Compton Mackenzie (Macdonald £5.95) The fate of Sinister Street is unique in that its virtues as a novel have been overshadowed by its accidental......

Gothic Folly

Simon Raven Beckford of Fonthill Brian Fothergill (Faber £13.50) If ever the good fairies blessed a cradle, it was that of William Beckford. Born in 1759 the only son of a......

This Week's Contrubutors Alex De Jonge Is A Fellow Of

New College, Oxford. He recently published The Weimar Chronicle and publishers in the autumn a new life of Pete, the Great. Alan Watkins is political columnist of the Observer......