The Diary Review

‘If as a diarist he is often clumsy by being over-sincere, as a student he devotes too much effort to transcribing his sources and too littl...

David Lloyd George, the only Welshman to serve as UK Prime Minister, died 80 years ago today. Although not a diarist, his literary estate, h...

‘To the Eastward & the Westward the Ice breaks up but soon freezes again. The Eskmeaux saw large Canoes full of White Men to the Westwar...

‘At the Royal Society. Mr. Collison showed me a Druid bead of glass, enameled, found at Henbury, near Macclesfield. Henbury is the old grave...

‘Lennie came over & I drank some lighter fuel - got frantic & burst into tears - walk in the park & bed at 5AM.’ This is a verba...

‘My heart was beating like some young student’s before the big exam. Was I going to be able to step out onto this land that I have been stri...

Malcolm X, one of the US’s most influential black activists, was assassinated 60 years ago today. He was not yet 40. Having come from a depr...

‘I will endeavour humbly but firmly, to acquire or achieve’ the following: practise yoga; acquire good knowledge; become a member of the Bri...

‘His Excellency’s brother was, accompanied by some gentlemen, to visit the Baile of Venice, whom he found very badly housed at the foot of a...

Peter the Great, who died all of 300 years ago today, is widely regarded as a pivotal figure in Russian history, responsible for modernising...

‘The flesh [of Hoatzins, locally called Ciganas] has an unpleasant odour of musk combined with wet hides - a smell called by the Brazilians ...