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Bernard Porter

July 2017

  • Maxwell Knight.

    M by Henry Hemming review – the fascist spymaster of MI5

    A superb book on the naturalist turned intelligence officer discloses new information on agents within far right and communist organisations

December 2016

  • Newly-listed Historic England heritage sites<br>Embargoed to 0001 Wednesday June 17 Undated handout photo issued by Historic England of a Victorian gin palace inside the Cauliflower Hotel in Ilford, Essex, which has been added to the National Heritage List. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Wednesday June 17, 2015. Government heritage body Historic England has published some of the highlights from the 510 places listed in the past year. See PA story HERITAGE Listed. Photo credit should read: Historic England/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

    Book of the day
    Empire of Booze by Henry Jeffreys – raising British spirits

    Did Britain invent lager and champagne? According to this entertaining book, the UK has had a greater influence on alcohol than any other nation

February 2016

  • Terra Nova Expedition<br>Captain Robert Falcon Scott (1868 - 1912) celebrates his 43rd birthday at camp in the Ross Dependency of Antarctica, during his Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, 6th June 1911. Scott is at the head of the table. (Photo by Herbert Ponting/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images)

    Book of the day
    Heroic Failure and the British by Stephanie Barczewski review – why have the defeated been prized in the UK?

    From the Charge of the Light Brigade to the failed explorations of Scott and David Livingstone, a fascinating exploration of why defeats and retreats became cherished examples of the British spirit

October 2015

  • Sture Bergwall

    The Strange Case of Thomas Quick by Dan Josefsson review – the first Swedish ‘serial killer’

    A case involving cannibalism and 39 murders that rocked Sweden’s liberal establishment to its foundations

August 2015

  • The Tears of the Rajas by Ferdinand Mount review – a vivid account of British imperialism in India

    The author uses his connection with the Lowland Scots – one he shares with David Cameron – to bring to life the era of British rule in India in an admirably rounded study

July 2014

  • Matthew Flinders

    The Great Race review – the British and the French map Australia

    Heat, humidity and weevils in the biscuits: David Hill's pacy account of seafaring and discovery

February 2014

  • Jumbo

    Jumbo by John Sutherland – review

    The entertaining story of the famous elephant's crowd-pleasing and globe-trotting, and his violent death. By Bernard Porter

January 2014

  • Oxford University Press bookshop

    The History of Oxford University Press, Volume III: 1896-1970 edited by Wm Roger Louis – review

    Should book publishing be all about profit? The success of OUP, despite its elitism, suggests not. By Bernard Porter

August 2013

  • Skull of Richard III

    Silent Witnesses: A History of Forensic Science by Nigel McCrery – review

    Bernard Porter on how the onward march of forensic science has revolutionised the art of detection

July 2013

  • mark kennedy

    Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police – review

    Espionage involves deception and betrayal, usually of people you have pretended to befriend. It's a sordid business, writes Bernard Porter

June 2013

  • Stonehenge, Wiltshire

    Men from the Ministry by Simon Thurley – review

    What buildings should be preserved, and on what basis? Bernard Porter thinks at least some civil servants deserve a little praise

March 2013

  • Young Winston Churchill

    Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill by Michael Shelden – review

    A new biography offers an insight into Churchill's women

January 2013

  • French legionnaires in Mali

    Mali intervention: when former imperial powers step in

    Bernard Porter
    Bernard Porter: It might be best if Africa's former rules refrained from intervening, but who would respond to Mali's cries for help otherwise?
  • A woman walks through snow in Wellington boots printed with the union flag

    Why the new British citizenship test distorts history

    Bernard Porter
    The new 'Britishness' syllabus blurs the historical facts. Bernard Porter presents his alternative
  • President Lyndon B Johnson discusses NATO issues with British Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

    Classified: Secrecy and the State in Modern Britain by Christopher Moran – review

    What role has elite arrogance played in government secrecy? This book provides a valuable if limited answer, writes Bernard Porter

December 2012

  • Thomas Stamford Raffles

    Raffles and the Golden Opportunity by Victoria Glendinning - review

    Bernard Porter enjoys a life of the right-thinking founder of Singapore

September 2012

  • Edward VII

    Bertie: A Life of Edward VII by Jane Ridley – review

    Bernard Porter on a philandering prince who made the monarchy popular again

May 2012

  • Benjamin Disraeli

    Under Every Leaf by William Beaver - review

    Bernard Porter challenges a study of the British empire's spies

December 2011

  • Dr Crippen (with scarf) and Inspector Dew

    The Ascent of the Detective by Haia Shpayer-Makov – review

    Bernard Porter enjoys a survey of changing attitudes to the police in Victorian and Edwardian England

October 2011

  • Police officers mark independence in the Indian city of Secunderabad

    Empire: What Ruling the World Did to the British by Jeremy Paxman – review

    Jeremy Paxman's survey of British imperial rule is sharp and engaging. By Bernard Porter
About 22 results for Bernard Porter
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