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Alexander Larman

Alexander Larman

The Telegraph

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For hire / Tom Hiddleston and the pitfalls of advertising

Amidst the summer’s plethora of advertisements aimed at the moronic, desperate and gullible, an especially crass one stands out. Ralph...

latest 8

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Kate Middleton is the royal family’s best ambassador

If you had been queuing up to buy tickets at Wimbledon yesterday, then you might have been forgiven for doubting your eyesight to see none other than...

friday 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Why Yesteryear is the controversial bestseller of 2026

If you’ve spent more than five minutes on social media in the past couple of years, you will probably be familiar with the tradwife phenomenon that...

01.07.2026 8

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Why shouldn’t Queen Camilla meet with J.K. Rowling?

One of the many likeable characteristics of Queen Camilla is that she has a clear, full-throated passion for literature. She has taken her husband,...

01.07.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

The peerless Penelope Keith

The news that Dame Penelope Keith has died at the age of 86 has devastated lovers of great British humour, to say nothing of Spectator readers. The...

30.06.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Royals / Britain won’t mind if Meghan stays away

If you wanted to contrast the public lives of the two warring sides of the Royal Family, last weekend gave us the perfect opportunity to do so. The...

29.06.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

What went wrong with the Madonna biopic?

What went wrong with the Madonna biopic?

Madonna Louise Ciconne has had one of the more eventful American lives of the past half-century, and it is little wonder that she might wish to depict...

27.06.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Is King Charles really being open about his finances?

When it was announced that King Charles was going to become the first monarch in history to release details of how much income tax he paid, it seemed...

26.06.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Is the Armie Hammer comeback going to happen?

When the actor Armie Hammer looked like he was on the verge of becoming a big star, it was an endless source of amusement for gossip columnists and...

18.06.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

The political awkwardness of the 2026 Tony Awards

Every year, the American theater world gathers in New York to celebrate the best of the best, and every year, writers like me ask why the judges have...

11.06.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

It’s time to turn the page on ‘romantasy’

I wrote recently about my delight that an excellent second-hand bookshop has opened in my home city of Oxford. Well, karma has come around. In the...

09.06.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

It’s time to turn the page on ‘romantasy’

I wrote recently about my delight that an excellent second-hand bookshop has opened in my home city of Oxford. Well, karma has come around. In the...

09.06.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Rosamund Pike was right to berate her phone-using audience

Many people find the idea of actors breaking the fourth wall while on stage mortifying. As such, they will react to the news that Rosamund Pike, the...

06.06.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Did former prince Andrew need to charge his tenants full rent?

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was photographed driving yesterday with a large bruise on his face. Whichever unfortunate “well-placed source” that has...

06.06.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Did Andrew need to charge his Royal Lodge tenants full rent?

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was photographed driving yesterday with a large bruise on his face. Whichever unfortunate ‘well-placed source’ that has...

05.06.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

How the YouTubers beat Star Wars

Last weekend saw the most unlikely battle between David and Goliath. The little film that could was none other than the psychological horror film...

02.06.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Don’t write off second-hand books

It has become commonplace for pessimistic bibliophiles like me to say that second-hand bookshops are an endangered species. You can pick your reason...

02.06.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

New tricks / Why Arthur Miller is back in the limelight

Arthur Miller may have died two decades ago, but America’s answer to Euripides and Sophocles is having a moment. The great tragedian’s plays have...

02.06.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

New tricks / Why Arthur Miller is back in the limelight

Arthur Miller may have died two decades ago, but America’s answer to Euripides and Sophocles is having a moment. The great tragedian’s plays have...

01.06.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Why Arthur Miller is back in the limelight

Arthur Miller may have died two decades ago, but America’s answer to Euripides and Sophocles is having a moment. The great tragedian’s plays have...

30.05.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Prince William will never be a centrist dad

Relatability and the Royals have not traditionally been obvious bedfellows, and, for many, that is part of their charm. Britain’s first family have,...

29.05.2026 30

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

AI Ozzy Osbourne is a terrible idea

If you were one of the millions of Ozzy Osbourne fans who mourned the death of the Black Sabbath frontman when he died last summer, then you may, or...

28.05.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

AI Ozzy Osbourne is a terrible idea

If you were one of the millions of Ozzy Osbourne fans who mourned the death of the Black Sabbath frontman when he died last summer, then you may, or...

28.05.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Colbert quit the stage with a whimper not a bang

Before the final episode of the Stephen Colbert-hosted Late Show, President Trump was asked what he thought about the demise of a program that was...

22.05.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Why did the Queen push for Andrew to become a trade envoy?

The Andrew formerly known as ‘Prince’ was always supposedly his mother’s favourite child. He had a degree of indulgence paid to him that his...

21.05.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Why did the Queen push for Andrew to become a trade envoy?

The Andrew formerly known as ‘Prince’ was always supposedly his mother’s favourite child. He had a degree of indulgence paid to him that his...

21.05.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

How Disney spoiled Star Wars

This week, the new Star Wars movie – the first live action film since 2019’s commercially successful but largely ridiculed Rise of Skywalker –...

20.05.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

How Disney ruined Star Wars

This week, the new Star Wars picture – the first live action film since 2019’s commercially successful but largely ridiculed Rise of Skywalker –...

19.05.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Politics has robbed Eurovision of its silliness

Here we go again. Every year, with the inevitability of death, taxes and political regicide, the BBC’s Eurovision coverage reminds viewers that...

18.05.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Nul points / Politics has robbed Eurovision of its silliness

Here we go again. Every year, with the inevitability of death, taxes and political regicide, the BBC’s Eurovision coverage reminds viewers that...

17.05.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Politics has robbed Eurovision of its silliness

Here we go again. Every year, with the inevitability of death, taxes and political regicide, the BBC’s Eurovision coverage reminds viewers that...

16.05.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Joe Biden’s memoir will humiliate him

Just before writing this piece, I saw Gary Oldman in a London production of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. For those unfamiliar, the play...

12.05.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Joe Biden’s memoir will humiliate him

Just before writing this piece, I saw Gary Oldman in a London production of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. For those unfamiliar, the play...

12.05.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Does The Odyssey confirm that Sir Christopher Nolan is camp?

Sir Christopher Nolan is many things. The Spielberg/Lucas/Cameron manqué of our time. A double Oscar-winner for Oppenheimer, a picture that is...

06.05.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Britain would never host the Met Gala

So, the Met Gala has rolled around again, with the predictability of death, taxes and the knowledge that some of the world’s most tedious...

06.05.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Should the Princess Diana tapes be released?

As King Charles returns to Britain this weekend, secure in the knowledge that his state visit to the United States has been a great diplomatic...

02.05.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Meet the Middletons – 15 years on

This week has seen Prince William and Catherine Middleton celebrate 15 years of marriage, with the occasion marked by a suitably heartwarming family...

01.05.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Was King Charles’s Congress speech a success?

President Trump lavished praise upon King Charles from the Oval Office at the outset of his four-day state visit to the United States. He called the...

29.04.2026 10

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Charles III delights ‘No Kings’ Democrats

President Trump lavished praise upon King Charles from the Oval Office at the outset of his four-day state visit to the United States. He called the...

29.04.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Waitrose must leave bad taste in the Eighties

Should you visit your local Waitrose store this week – and hope you don’t witness an altercation between a shoplifter and a member of staff about...

28.04.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

The decline of the royal biography

About a decade ago, with my writing career going nowhere fast, I received some savvy advice from my then-literary agent. “Write about the royal...

28.04.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

What a tip / Gordon Ramsay and the tyranny of the restaurant service charge

The news that Gordon Ramsay – that most self-publicising of restaurateurs – has increased service charges at his Lucky Cat restaurant in the City...

27.04.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Russell Brand is everything that is wrong with the world

There are few stranger public careers than that of Russell Brand, the former ‘comedian’ turned MAGA cheerleader-in-chief. He has given an...

25.04.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

What Prince Harry has in common with Boris Johnson

It has, on balance, been one of Prince Harry’s busier fortnights in recent times. As if to upstage his father’s state visit to the United States...

25.04.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Russell Brand is everything that is wrong with the world

There are few stranger public careers than that of Russell Brand, the former ‘comedian’ turned MAGA cheerleader-in-chief. He has given an...

23.04.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

The decline of the country house hotel

For decades, the idea of the country house hotel – a uniquely British phenomenon – has held a seductive sway for those who would never dream,...

22.04.2026 20

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

The decline of the royal biography

About a decade ago, with my writing career going nowhere fast, I received some savvy advice from my then-literary agent. “Write about the royal...

22.04.2026 30

The Spectator

Alexander Larman