The Second Cuckoo: Chosen by Kenneth Gregory

A second volume of letters to that august, imposing publication, The Times from the early 1900s up until the 1980s - not only from the man in the street, but from luminaries such as Evelyn Waugh (earning an honest dollar); Sir Thomas Beecham (on tempo, naturally); Agatha Christie (on Shakespeare); Joyce Grenfell ('glamouramas') Robert Graves, author of I, CLaudius (on the bliss of being ignored) and so many more. Other topics that have stirred a letter to The Times: trouser turn-ups; the origin of marmalade; the whereabouts of Ruritania; hygiene and the Communion cup; top hats; how to get a message to an express train (pre-mobile phone days...); Oliver Cromwell's head; the sinking of the Titanic and perfect manners. Great for the social historian - or just for fun.