Murder Mystery in Kenya

1941, Josslyn Hay, Earl of Errol, was shot dead in Kenya. The death of the debauched jet-setter at the heart of Kenya’s Happy Valley set gave the tabloids a heyday and headlines to spare. Rumors were ripe, contradictory, and mostly completely false. The murderer was never apprehended. A new book tries to pin down a new suspect.

Earl and Countess of Errol

Christopher Lloyd and Great Dixter

Chatto & Windus published Christopher Lloyd: His Life At Great Dixter by Stephen Anderton. What started out as a biography of a great gardener became a double biography of Christopher Lloyd and his mother Daisy. But there is reason and system to this.

Christopher Lloyd

Official Biography of The Queen Mother

Macmillan published Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother by William Shawcross. The book suffers from the usual bug all autobiographies and official biographies suffer from: It shows the life of the subject as the writer of those who authorized it wants it to be remembered, not as it was. Official biographies are nothing more than a propaganda tool to bend history.

Elizabeth, Duchess of York

Ghosts Lacking in Spirit

Seeing a ghost is a spooky event. A book about ghosts therefore should be a spooky affair; at least it should be captivating. A book by Peter Ackroyd about ghosts is neither; worse, it isn't even a good anthology. Even famous writers may produce a catastrophe, it seems.

Bert Trautmann: From Iron Cross to OBE

Biographies may turn out to be just about anything; they come as pack of lies, as means to drop names, as a way to shift blame to others, or as a collection of pointless anecdotes. Every once in a while, a biography is published that stands out presenting a riveting life's story. The biography written about Bert Trautmann is one of the latter.

Manchester City with
Bert Trautmann