Recent paperbacks
James Hughes-Onslow
A View of the English Stage, 1944-1963 Kenneth Tynan (Methuen £4.95). 'The most memorable things I saw on English stages between the last year of the war and the early 1960s' says Tynan, whose writing itself played a crucial role in these years.
A Life of Contrasts Diana Mosley (Hamish Hamilton £4.95). A family perspective on Unity Mit ford's suicide attempt, Sir Oswald's tempestuous career and a view of the war from Holloway prison. Hitler seems to have been a frightful bore but he was more like Churchill than we like to think, she says provocatively.
Tales from the Don Mikhail Sholokhov (Abacus £2.95). Everyday horrors from the Southern steppes by the late Nobel-prizewinning Soviet propagandist. Sixteen short stories to please the censors and buy this wily old Cossack some new guns from Purdeys. Memoirs of a Bengali Civilian John Beames (Eland £4.95), More lively nostalgia from the Raj. Beames was a Victorian District Officer who penned these outspoken observations strict- ly for the amusement of his family. He disliked Lieutenant-Governors 'as a class' and was sent to Bengal because he was too independently minded for the more orderly life of the Punjab.
Brazilian Adventure Peter Fleming (Penguin £2.95). Colonel P.H. Fawcett disappeared into the Matto Grosso in 1925 and was never seen or heard of again. He might have been forgotten completely if Fleming hadn't joined this famous expedition to find him after seeing an advertise- ment in The Times: 'Room for two more guns'.
Ancestral Vices Tom Sharpe (Pan £1,50). The latest knockabout farce for Sharpe's growing fan club. No corner of British ,society, left-wing -academics and right-wing capitalists, true blue landed gentry and the workers, police and lawyers, escape Sharpe's mockery.
The Illusionist Anita Mason (Abacus £1.95). A novel based on the life of Simon Magus, a New Testament sorcerer and magician who gained a following by some as the Redeemer. His move- ment was put in the shade by the Christians who were busy claiming that their miracles were the work of God.
The Changing Sky Norman Lewis (Eland £4.95). Travels in five continents by the author of Naples '44 and A Dragon Apparent.. Lewis says he likes to travel for travel's sake but malaria, bandits and reactionary governments always enhance his pleasure.
The Unknown Mayhew: Selections from the Morning Chronicle 1849-1850 Edited by E.P. Thompson and Eileen Yeo (Penguip £4.95). Mayhew's articles about poverty and disease amongst London's workers did as much to arouse Victorian social consciences as the writings of his friend Charles Dickens.
Hangovers Clement Freud (Fontana £1.25) The Liberal MP for the Isle of Ely used to drink two litres of wine a day as part of his hotel training. Here he offers some light-hearted anecdotes and recipes for cures. Some pre-election thoughts from a future minister of hangovers?
Lords of the Atlas: The Rise and Fall of the House of Glaoua 1893-1956 Gavin Maxwell (Century £4.95) The very readable, if repulsive story of colonial Morocco. 'Maxwell's pages are thickly populated with a succession of devious and vicious figures, practising revenges and punishments which would be horrific by the stan- dards of any age' writes Geoffrey Moorhouse, Debrett's Guide to Tracing your Ancestry Noel Currer-Briggs and Royston Gambier (45.95) Washington and George III, Goering and Chur- chill, Bonnie Prince Charlie and Richard Nixon were all descended from Charlemagne. 'Genealogy is fun' says Sir lain Moncreiffe of that Ilk in his introduction.
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