Bianca Maria Visconti, Duchess of Milan
1 week ago
Repeatedly I have written that the detective story is an essentially conservative genre, not because it necessarily upholds the social or political mores of the day (many, many even of the Golden Age stories do no such thing) but because it relies on a certain moral assumption and that is the wrongness of taking another life. In other words, it assumes that individuals matter, that the personal is of greater importance than the collective...
Dorothy L. Sayers crops up on this blog regularly so readers will not be surprised to learn that Tory Historian is reading another book about the great lady, detective story writer, theologian, literary critic, conservative thinker and all-round good thing (no, that is not a reference to her physical shape). This one is by David Coomes, media executive (not sure how else one can describe him) and erstwhile head of BBC Religious Department, entitled Dorothy L. Sayers - A Careless Rage for Life.
The book has more about Sayers...
Let's face it, from a conservative point of view, anything that concerns Jane Austen is important and she died on July 18, 1817.
Some other important things happened on this day, as well.
For example, in 1872 the Ballot Act received its Royal Assent, thus introducing the concept of secret ballot into British politics. Sadly, one must admit, that concept is being eroded at the moment through the indiscriminate and badly supervised use of the postal ballot.
In 1920, the Cenotaph, Sir Edward Lutyens's great memorial to the dead...
No, not Hitler's but Macmillan's whose fiftieth anniversary we remembered yesterday. A couple of days ago the Conservative History Group was addressed by the man who knows absolutely everything about that day, the historian D. R. Thorpe, author of a trilogy or prime ministerial biographies, Eden, Macmillan and Douglas-Home as well as that of Selwyn Lloyd, the Chancellor of the Exchequer who was, in some ways, the cause of it all.
As an...
One of the most important British and Irish battles fought in 1690 with William III's forces triumphing over those of James II, thus putting the final touch to the Protestant or, as it is mostly known, Glorious Revoluti...
Tory Historian has been reading Lewis Stevens's biography of Rosa Newmarch, An Unforgettable Woman. Mrs Newmarch was a remarkable woman and is not as well known as she ought to be, though there are signs that interest in her career is growing.
She was at the heart of English cultural, especially musical life of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, wrote several important books and hundreds of articles as well as translating...
For all those who are in or near London this Thursday evening: D. R. Thorpe will be speaking about "The Night of the Long Knives", Macmillan's infamous Cabinet reshuffle 50 years ago. Of course, he did not allow gossip on the subject to swirl round Westminster for months beforehand but struck suddenly. Here are the details. Hope to see some of you the...
