‘The most luxurious possession, the richest treasure that anybody has, is his personal dignity.’ So said Jackie Robinson, incidentally...

Of course I bloody inhaled. What else did you think I was going to do? It would have taken a particular kind of idiot schoolboy to have...

“Humankind,’ said wildlife photographer Paul Oxton ‘must begin to learn that the life of an animal is in no way less precious than our...

Between lunch and some rugby match last Saturday afternoon, Duncan and I got up close and personal to our bees for the first time this...

The answer, if you are in Holland, is unfortunately yes, your bum does look big in this. Huge, possibly. Here in the world capital of...

Saving Planet Earth (the Home Counties way) ‘Somebody had to change the world, and obviously I was the one for the job.’ My words? No,...

IT’S ALL NEHRU’S FAULT. There is a fine line for men of a certain age to navigate between clinging onto the last vestiges of fashion, on...

I may have just identified my personal Theresa May ‘running through a field of wheat’ moment. Without the patience needed to wait till my...

‘Nowadays, manners are easy, and life is hard’ is what Disraeli said a hundred or so years ago. You reckon? Part of my plan for a...

ME AND THE KURDS I’m not sure what Confucius was thinking about when he said that ‘everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.’...

On Thursdays, I work with trees. In the evolving Grenville life, this gives a welcome architecture to a week whose edges have become...

I am 5% less of a man than I was 11 days ago. 5% of my body mass, and I suppose that it is appropriate to call it by that name, has...

Misery loves company, so for January, on top of being dry, I seem also to be vegetarian. The alcohol bit is easy. I don’t follow...

Old ‘Chesty’ Puller of the US Marine Corps once described pain as ‘weakness leaving the body’. Begging his pardon, but, had he not...

This is beyond parody. Every year, between Christmas and New Year, I have a simple ritual, which is to get rid of 50 books from the...

In my sixtieth year, I will understand that ageing is perception, not reality. I will not buy a coffee unless I have brought my own cup...

I was run over in Midhurst today. Thank you for your concern, but I’m fine. It’s the second time I’ve been run over in Midhurst in the...

When Edmund Burke said ‘all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’, I like to assume that he was...

It could have happened to anyone. A couple of days ago, I left the office mid-morning to head to the station and then on into London for...

I certainly stole it. I know that to be a fact for about four reasons, the first of which is that I have never bought an umbrella in my...