4 JANUARY 1992, page 25

No Longer Hero Or Villain

Andro Linklater THE BIRTHDAY BOYS by Beryl Bainbridge Duckworth, £12.99, pp. 189 T he fall of a hero produces a curiously intense sensation — a surge of libertarian delight......

Shallow Brooks Murmur Most

Richard Cockett BROOKS'S: A SOCIAL HISTORY edited by Philip Ziegler and Desmond Seward Constable, £20, pp. 233 R eaders of The Spectator will be pleased to know that the ancien......