The short story ‘The Unprincipled Affair of the Practical Joker’ by Dorothy L. Sayers was first published in The Spectator and collected in Lord Peter Views the Body (Gollancz, 1928). In this extract the characters are playing a game of bridge: ‘Whatever has induced you, my dear boy,’ said Co...

In the poem, My Mother at Sixty-Six, the poet ends the "prose" saying all I did was smile and smile and smile.... There are various critical interpretations as to what does the over-usage of the word "smile" mean, some say it is because she wanted to hide her feelings of sadness, while som...

I have seen a postcard with a quote "You can achieve a lot with hate, but even more with love", signed "Shakespeare", in a French bookshop. The quote is not exact, because I have translated it back from French. Would you know where it comes from?