Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Jump to content
UK EditionAsia EditionEdición en Español
Sign up to our newslettersSubscribe: $6 for 6 months
More
Best
Climate
TV

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in

Dj Taylor

@djtaylorwriter

David John Taylor is a British critic, novelist and biographer.

<p>FR Leavis is a major figure in the history of literary criticism</p>
Independent Premium

Book of a lifetime: Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters By John Gross

Anita Brookner rejected the role of writer-as-performance-artist
Voices

Anita Brookner showed how to create literature out of loneliness

Sir George Martin was a man who knew that to succeed it was necessary to reimagine yourself
Voices

Sir George Martin was one of a rare breed – gentlemen

Illustration by Mark Long
Comment

Life As We Know it: Tabitha’s attic, all-girl flatshare

The ‘community’ that gathered in the Rover’s Return was dismissed by some as a distortion of working-class reality
Voices

Coronation Street used to depict a world already dying in 1960

Illustration by Mark Long
Comment

Life As We Know It: Alice Smithson, reluctant keeper of the flame

David Cameron’s comments on Jeremy Corbyn’s attire were considered a bit below the belt
Voices

PM’s put-down of Corbyn’s appearance shows the value of respectability

Illustration by Mark Long
Comment

Life As We Know It: Anastasia Flitton, former prog-rocker

Michael Crawford as the hapless Frank Spencer in 'Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em'
Voices

The inane nostalgia behind Frank Spencer’s rebirth

Illustration by Silje Eirin Aure
Comment

Life As We Know It: Howard Creighton, man of promise

Dr. Adam Osborne, brother of Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, arrives at Liberty House for his grilling by the GMC in 2010
Voices

A family deficit George Osborne can do nothing about

Illustration by Mark Long
Comment

Life As We Know It: Graham Venables, trendy dad

Robert De Niro gives an embarrasing performance, with Zac Efron, in Dirty Grandpa
Voices

The tricky art of ageing disgracefully: Who is getting it right?

Voices

The tricky art of ageing disgracefully: Who is getting it right?

Robert De Niro gives an embarrasing performance, with Zac Efron, in Dirty Grandpa
Illustration by Silje Eirin Aure
Comment

Life As We Know It No.94: Mother’s pride Chloe Pargeter

Illustration by Mark Long
Comment

Life As We Know It: Relationship counsellor Debbie Pynsent

Illustration by Silje Eirin Aure
Comment

Life As We Know It: Fantasist Garth Dangerfield

The controversial statue of Cecil Rhodes on the front of Oriel College, Oxford
Voices

If Cecil Rhodes falls, who will be left standing?

The controversial statue of Cecil Rhodes on the front of Oriel College, Oxford
Voices

If Cecil Rhodes falls, who will be left standing?

Illustration by Mark Long
Comment

Life As We Know It: Hard-done-to youngest Brian Pilgrim

Ellie Harrison is not alone in turning poverty into art and then money
Voices

Poverty safari? Don’t forget the pith helmet

Illustration by Silje Eirin Aure
Comment

Life As We Know It: Stickz Da Predator, urban music legend

Literary impulses are so open to influence that the book itself is only a part of each individual’s puzzle
Features

How the books we read shape our lives

Harold Macmillan, in 1960 at Oxford University
Voices

Clancy Theory: a novel way for leaders to run the world

Illustration by Mark Long
Comment

Life As We Know It: Ageing choristers Connie & Penny

Voices

It turns out you don’t have to suffer for your art after all

Illustration by Mark Long
Comment

Problem child Lucy Broadhurst was counted as an afterthought

Illustration by Mark Long
Comment

Life As We Know It: Ageing choristers Connie & Penny

Voices

It turns out you don’t have to suffer for your art after all

Illustration by Mark Long
Comment

Problem child Lucy Broadhurst was counted as an afterthought

Man watching television
Voices

Why has mainstream TV lost its nerve?

Voices

Why has mainstream TV lost its nerve?

Man watching television
It has become uncomfortably clear over the years that Christmas brings out a dormant side in Barry's nature
Comment

Uncle Barry: Life of the party

The Hon Benji Wellbourne
Comment

The Hon Benji Wellbourne: Aristocratic activist

We live in an age where the line between an innocent compliment and creepy lechery can become hopelessly blurred
Voices

How not to be the lech at the office party

Illustration by Mark Long
Comment

Life As We Know It: Blast from the past Stephanie Hambling

Illustration by Mark Long
Comment

Life As We Know It: Blast from the past Stephanie Hambling

Britain's shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell quoting from Mao's Little Red Book
Voices

Naivety is a failing we could do with more of in politics

Illustration by Silje Eirin Aure
Comment

Life As We Know It: Future-technology guru Miles Threlfall

Cyber-beast? Steve Jobs at the launch of the iPhone 4 in San Francisco, 2010 
Voices

Is the mighty Apple rotten at the core?

Comment

Life As We Know It: Teenage bohemians Tallulah and Daphne

Illustration by Silje Eirin Aure
Comment

Militant atheist Dr Merlin Godfrey has a habit of insulting clergymen

'Corbynomics' heads the list of the words of 2015, ahead of 'dadbob' and 'manspreading'
Voices

Where do all the new words come from?

Illustration by Mark Long
Comment

Life As We Know It: Maisie Twemlow, camp follower

Martin Amis accused Jeremy Corbyn of being under-educated, full of second-hand ideas, inflexible, dull-witted and humourless
Voices

Amis’s rant about Corbyn says more about the biter than the bit

Illustraition by Silje Eirin Aure
Comment

Life As We Know It: Toby Medlar, participant

Asked the question “How much do you trust the following to tell the truth?”, judges came out on top with 70 per cent of the vote
Voices

In judges we trust (if pollsters can be believed)

Voices

Jeremy Corbyn has 'puritan' written all over him

Voices

Jeremy Corbyn has 'puritan' written all over him

Voices

Jeremy Corbyn has 'puritan' written all over him

Commentators

Sub-celebrity Daisy Trefoil

Commentators

Mr Quill's contemptuous prose features regularly in local newspapers

Voices

Hold on to your mobile phones, Rebekah's back

Voices

Hold on to your mobile phones, Rebekah's back

Commentators

Pliable teen Marigold McAllister keeps the wrong sort of company

Commentators

Ageing juvenile Andy Greenstreet is still living in a flatshare

The Ashley Madison website displayed on a smartphone (Reuters)
Comment

In cyberspace, everyone can hear you scream

Commentators

DJ Taylor: 'Charysse is an enigmatic chanteuse'

Jimmy Carr, unlike TS Eliot, has no need of patrons such as Francis Bacon’s Lady Sainsbury
Voices

Forget the Arts Council - bring back the patron

Commentators

Pensioner puritans the Holroyds live in very spartan conditions

Electrifying: Chuck Berry performs at Wembley Stadium in 1972
Reviews

Book review: Electric Shock: From the Gramophone to the iPhone

Commentators

DJ Taylor on self-styled human dynamo Melanie Eydall

Beach life: many of the characters in Justin Cartwright's novels are lost in a metaphysical fog
Reviews

Up Against The Night by Justin Cartwright: Middle-aged angst

The male menopause: those affected can suffer hot flushes, night sweats, joint pain, low libido, depression and an increase in body fat, among other symptoms
Voices

The male menopause and intimations of mortality

Commentators

The Mensa Boys are high-IQ playmates

Commentators

The Mensa Boys are high-IQ playmates

Rapeseed begins to bloom and besets Vernons Folly in Sudbury, England. An increasing pace of urbanisation and spectacular growth has taken place over the past decade in major English population hubs
Comment

The pull of the city is emptying rural England

Commentators

For supermum Naomi Codling, real fulfilment arrived in the shape of

There have been calls for an end to the sort of Whitehall-speak that was a second language to the characters in ‘Yes Minister’
Voices

Banning jargon? Er, inexecutable Prime Minister

Research suggests that extending Sunday trading by two hours in London would create nearly 3,000 jobs, and generate more than £200m a year in extra income in the capital alone
Voices

Sunday trading laws: Awake, puritans of England, this is your moment

Research suggests that extending Sunday trading by two hours in London would create nearly 3,000 jobs, and generate more than £200m a year in extra income in the capital alone
Voices

Sunday trading laws: Awake, puritans of England, this is your moment

Research suggests that extending Sunday trading by two hours in London would create nearly 3,000 jobs, and generate more than £200m a year in extra income in the capital alone
Voices

Sunday trading laws: Awake, puritans of England, this is your moment

Tokens of appreciation descend on her corkscrew-curled head like so much confetti
Comment

DJ Taylor: Millie is three years into the post of club

Tokens of appreciation descend on her corkscrew-curled head like so much confetti
Comment

DJ Taylor: Millie is three years into the post of club

Public concerns over a third Heathrow runway appear to be secondary to the needs of businesses
Comment

Business people are the new trade unions - unelected but continually

Commentators

Natasha Spendlove belongs to a rarefied part of the demographic: the

E L James sold 647,000 copies of her latest book in three days – without the help of the critics
Voices

E L James's book Grey is a reminder of how the phenomenon of the

E L James sold 647,000 copies of her latest book in three days – without the help of the critics
Voices

E L James's book Grey is a reminder of how the phenomenon of the

Commentators

Ernest is an obstructive administrative force whose fame derives from

Voices

Heard the one about a college course for comedians?

Commentators

AD Penumbra's reputation as a highbrow poet has far exceeded the

Michael Foot was slaughtered at the general election of 1983
Voices

There is a point (of sorts) to the futile gesture...

Commentators

Aspiring rock god Martin Starr finds that working in HMV gets in the

The players who turn out on Hackney Marshes every Sunday as well as the paid-up pros are all part of the same footballing family
Voices

Football's ugliness is integral to the beautiful game

Today’s children are introduced early to the joys and woes of materialism.
Voices

Why the cost of parenting has become so expensive

Commentators

Rossy Boy, voice of Loamshire FM, was brought up on the personality

Commentators

Lady Venom favours a brand of gothdom that belongs to a period decades

Today’s children are introduced early to the joys and woes of materialism.
Voices

Why the cost of parenting has become so expensive

Commentators

Rossy Boy, voice of Loamshire FM, was brought up on the personality

Commentators

Lady Venom favours a brand of gothdom that belongs to a period decades

Kevin Pietersen celebrating England’s Ashes win in 2005
Voices

Kevin Pietersen's fate is that of any maverick

Commentators

DJ Taylor: Local historian Harold Savory took up his new hobby with an

David Dimbleby anchoring the BBC's coverage
Voices

On election night, ITV was faster, Sky was whizzier - but, for the big

Commentators

DJ Taylor: Teenage vlogger Fran is driven to fury by the attention

Commentators

DJ Taylor: Teenage vlogger Fran is driven to fury by the attention

Commentators

DJ Taylor: Micro-publicist Danny Pugh never makes very much money from

Margaret Thatcher, with her director of publicity Sir Gordon Reece, who helped her and the Tory Party to victory in 1979
Voices

Public relations as 'art'? Surely not

Commentators

DJ Taylor: Celebrity daughter Zoe-Sky had an odd kind of upbringing

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in