The Boat Race 2026: Dark Blues, Light Blues and a Long Run of Cambridge Dominance
Cambridge arrive as favourites for today's Boat Race, but Oxford have been waiting a long time. Our preview of the 2026 race from Putney to Mortlake.
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The Boat Race: A Short History of Britain's Long Rivalry on the Thames
It began, as so many English traditions do, with two friends and a disagreement about where to hold the party. In 1829, Charles Merivale of St John's College, Cambridge, and his old school friend Charles Wordsworth of Christ Church, Oxford, arranged a race at Henley-on-Thames between
The Boxing Day Meet
The day after Christmas is the great day in all the hunting counties," wrote Trollope. St. Stephen's Day brings out the regulars, the once-a-season followers, visiting relations in borrowed boots, and half the village. It's magnificent chaos, and not remotely about the actual hunting.
The Last Wild Game
Ask a keeper to promise woodcock and watch the evasion begin. They arrive from Scandinavia when weather pushes them south, refuse to be managed, and preserve what most shooting has eliminated: genuine uncertainty.
The Pheasant
The pheasant is not English. It arrived from somewhere between the Black Sea and China, yet has become the definition of traditional country sport. A look at the bird's odd position in English culture and literature.
Ritual Notes: The Barbers and Bars of St. James's
The barbers and bars of St. James's have been doing things properly for rather a long time. Which is why people keep going back...Three bars, two barbers. Makes a pleasant afternoon - haircut, shave, then round to the bar. The same combination each month, or vary it.
The Grey Partridge and What It Tells Us
The grey partridge belongs to a particular kind of English countryside – one that existed before intensive farming, before broad-spectrum pesticides, and before the landscape was asked to produce quite so much, quite so quickly.