6 JANUARY 1996, page 32

Crunch Line

`Did you see the red admiral this morning?' The query slotted rather neatly, I thought, if edgeways, into a lull in his whirring all-electric garden. 'No.' And that was that.......

The Interposition Of Some Invisible Agent

Oleg Gordievsky BETRAYAL: THE STORY OF ALDRICH AMES by Tim Weiner, David Johnston and Neil A. Lewis Richard Cohen Books, £12.99, pp. 308 I n the spring of 1985 Aldrich Ames, a......

Long On Charm

Christopher Hawtree BOBBY SHORT: SALOON SINGER by Clarkson Potter Random House, $25, pp. 265 I s there any more ridiculous sight than that of Tina Turner, a fine singer, being......

Before The Snow Came

Claus von Billow THE HISTORY OF DANISH DREAMS by Peter Hoeg Harvill, f14.99, pp. 339 S tudents of the best-seller lists will recognise Peter Hoeg as the author of Miss Smilla's......