7 AUGUST 1999, page 32

Books

A master with two mistresses Bevis Hillier THE LE I I FRS OF WILKIE I n an after-dinner speech, Winston Churchill amused the company by recount- ing how he had been shipwrecked:......

Two Wagers With Providence

Robert Oakeshott THE AFRICA HOUSE: THE TRUE STORY OF AN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN AND HIS AFRICAN DREAM by Christina Lamb Viking, £12.99, pp. 346 The walls are good and solid — almost......