24 JULY 1999, page 32

Speaking Of Elusive Evidence

John de Falbe VERA S hortly after the publication of Lolita, Nabokov acknowledged that 'my very kind and patient wife, she sits down at her type- writer and . . . I dictate off......

The Original Cheeky Chappy

Paul Routledge GEORGE FORMBY: A TROUBLED GENIUS by David Bret Robson, £16.95, pp. 296 I t started off as an everyday story of coal in the wine-bin, and ended in fame, fortune......