The symptoms crept up on me. I’d had chest pain for a week — when I lifted heavy pots or sacks of soil from the garden centre or climbed the stairs to the children’s rooms. Ironically perhaps, given our hypersensitivity to such things right now, it felt like a bronchial infection — a sharp pain … Read more
HISTORY LOVE IN THE BLITZ by Eileen Alexander (William Collins £20, 496 pp) At a Berkshire crossroads on June 29, 1939, a young Cambridge postgraduate, Gershon Ellenbogen, crashed his car into a passing vehicle, hurling his passenger, Eileen Alexander, who had just gained a first from Girton, out onto the tarmac. She broke her nose … Read more
Poignant letters written by Prince Philip after his uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten was murdered by the IRA and another from Margaret Thatcher following the Brighton bombing have gone up for sale. Lord Mountbatten was killed by the terror group while fishing in his boat in County Sligo, Ireland, in 1979, and in a letter to … Read more
Any saver expressing interest in ditching a final salary pension is to be warned off in a letter telling them it’s unlikely to be in their best interests. Regulators have ordered pension schemes to start sending anyone requesting a cash valuation a letter urging them not to act in haste during the coronavirus outbreak, and … Read more
Britons are turning away from social media and embracing more traditional forms of communication during the coronavirus lockdown, a new survey suggests. Compared with the anxiety-inducing experience of posting updates on Facebook and Instagram, two thirds of adults still think sending a hand-written message is the best way to keep in touch. In a poll … Read more
Ricky Gervais has revealed he receives many letters from grieving widowers and is approached by touched fans on the street because of his series After Life. The actor, 58, stars as Tony in the dark comedy whose second series has just been released on Netflix. The show, written by Ricky, portrays a suicidal local journalist … Read more
How do you follow your heart during wartime? This remarkable treasure trove of letters gives a unique insight into home-front life and romance Eileen and Gershon on their wedding day, 1944 Eileen Alexander was a brilliant scholar, graduating from Cambridge in 1939. Her academic career derailed by the war, she lived in London with her … Read more
Care home residents say they are being asked to sign letters agreeing to not be taken to hospital if they become ill the coronavirus. Elderly people are being asked to sign the agreements en masse as hospitals come under intense pressure from thousands of patients with the infectious disease. People over the age of 80 are … Read more
What is current Foreign Office advice regarding travel and coronavirus? The Foreign Office now advises against all but essential travel to 10 small towns in Lombardy and one in Veneto in Italy, which have been isolated by the Italian authorities. These towns are Codogno, Castiglione d’Adda, Casalpusterlengo, Fombio, Maleo, Somaglia, Bertonico, Terranova dei Passerini, Castelgerundo … Read more