Miles Kington

The Kington letters: Final words of a comic genius

Ever the master humorist, Miles Kington kept readers laughing right up to the end. But at the time of his death last week, the 'Independent' columnist was also working on a literary farewell - a series of typically brilliant letters to his friend and agent, Gill Coleridge...

Miles remembered: An editor's dream dies

The last time I spoke to Miles Kington was three days before he died. It was 6pm, the Comment pages were due off in an hour, and he still hadn’t filed. For Miles, this was unheard of. His stuff was usually in by early afternoon. Day in, day out, for more than 20 years, he was 100 per cent reliable, and 100 per cent brilliant. An editor’s dream, in other words.

Michael Bywater remembers Miles Kington

Miles Kington, who has died suddenly at the age of 94 after apparently contracting a rare leg disease from a Madeira cake allegedly sent to him by extremist followers of the late Philip Larkin, was best known to readers of this newspaper as The Independent's daily columnist for over 20 years. But the truth of his life was very different.

Miles & Me by Jonathan Sale

For more than two decades, Miles Kington's daily musings on culture, politics and modern life were cherished by readers of The Independent. His death this week robs Britain of one its most original humorists. Here, friends reflect on the man they loved, while over the page are extracts from some of his finest columns

Let's Parler Kington: Miles at his very best

2 March 1990 In these days of high winds, a fence acts as a natural resting place for anything being blown cheerfully cross-country, and you are certain to find a colourful selection of countryside riches on the windward side of many a fence. Orange synthetic twine, blue feed-bags, empty cement sacks, old newspapers, abandoned prams, tangerine boxes, beige files marked MINISTRY OF DEFENCE: HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – these are some of the things I have spotted in the past week in our locality.

Recently by Miles Kington

Miles Kington Remembered: Passive suffering: an extraordinary legal precedent

Friday, 9 May 2008

A most extraordinary case is going on in the High Court at the moment, which seeks to create a new offence called "passive suffering". Here is an extract from yesterday's enlightening proceedings...

Miles Kington Remembered: Need a divorce? Ask a composer – he'll know the score

Thursday, 8 May 2008

"So, don't forget to join us to help celebrate Copland, Shostakovich and Bach!"

Miles Kington Remembered: Words will all grow, flourish and die, eventually

Wednesday, 7 May 2008

Every newspaper has its linguistic expert these days, answering readers' questions on English usage, but there has never been a language maven quite like our resident sage, Dr Wordsmith.

Miles Kington Remembered: A geographical conundrum of continental proportions

Tuesday, 6 May 2008

Miles Kington Remembered: If Spanish proverbs depress you, go to the other bar

Monday, 5 May 2008

Miles Kington Remembered: Birds do it, bees do it, even – ahem – garden flowers do it...

Friday, 2 May 2008

I wasn't entirely surprised to learn the other day that girls as young as 12 or 13 were now getting pregnant in Britain. You see, I was brought up on an old copy of Ripley's Believe it or Not!, in which Mr Ripley told us incredible but true facts from round the globe, and one of these incredible but true facts was that the youngest grandmother in the world was only 32 years old. This was because the daughter she'd had at 16 had also given birth at 16.

Miles Kington Remembered: Freud's topical application for nervous speech writers

Thursday, 1 May 2008

There are two diametrically opposed schools of thought when it comes to writing an after-dinner speech. There is the Clement Freud school of thought and the non-Clement Freud school of thought. I learnt this when as a young man I foolishly accepted an invitation to take part in a Cambridge Union debate.