Maurice Cowling

I Maurice Cowling I have three memories of being literary editor of The Spectator. The first is of the outrage caused to the publishers of novels when I had the brilliant idea......

Hilary Spurling

Hilary Spurling The only advice given me by my predecessor was that all invitations to publishers' parties should go straight into the waste bin. He said no word about any of......

Peter Ackroyd

Peter Ackroyd I was about to entrust myself to the mercies of the street when George Gale, then editor of The Spectator, offered me the post of literary editor. I was 23 years......

Geoffrey Wheatcroft

Geoffrey Wheatcroft Among those who wrote for The Spectator books and arts pages in the late 1970s was (for a time) the late Hans Keller. He sometimes mentioned his theory of......

Patrick Marnham

Patrick Marnham Lunch played a central role, I seem to remember that, frequently in an Italian restaurant. I was literary editor twice. Once in 1981 and again, after an......

Christopher Hudson

1 Christopher Hudson In late 1970, pleading a dentist's appointment, I left Faber & Faber in Russell Square and walked round the corner to iGower Street to apply for the post of......