The diaries of Harold Nicolson and Duff Cooper

Harold Nicolson and Duff Cooper were two scions of the British bourgeoisie who led parallel lives and who, by their wits, looks and charm, gained entry into the highest circles of British politics and society. One, Nicolson, was gay, the other, Cooper, a notorious womanizer. Both had succesful marriages, the former to Vita Sackville West, the writer and landscape gardener who was one Virginia Wolf's best friends, the latter to Lady Diana Cooper, a notorious beauty, the youngest daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland, a social celebrity in her day who acted in Hollywood. Both joined the Foreign Office and left it to pursue a career in politics. They ended serving together under Churchill in his first government as PM in 1940, Nicolson junior minister to Cooper at the Trade Board. They were not especially friendly. Their diaries are a fascinating record of life in London in the first half of the XXth century, but they could not be more different. Duff Cooper gives us an intimate, blow by blow, account of his love life, his numerous infidelities, and his copious and rich eating, drinking and gambling - together with a few offhand, almost casual descriptions of his feats of arms in the First World War and of his break with Chamberlain after Munich. Nicholson is reserved, never mentions his homosexuality but is the more disciplined and fluid writer, with marvellous evocative descriptions of moods and personalities.

Sophisticated Palma

The olive and the palm tree, this is the sacred Mediterranean combination you will find in Palma de Maiorca, that most charming, sophisticated and cool island at the crossroads between Spain, Italy and France, with a sultry touch given by the hot African wind blowing in from the Sahara. Rich renaissance arquitecture, great "arroz negro", cool shopping, nice art galleries, everything comes together in a subtle whisper ringing in your ears: "stay..."