Alfred, Lord Tennyson is practically a byword for old-fashioned Victorian grandeur, rarely pictured without a cravat and a serious beard.

Seamus Perry tries to picture him as a younger man.

Seamus Perry - Before the Beard

Seamus Perry: Before the Beard - The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science, and the Crisis of Belief by Richard Holmes

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Novelist Muriel Spark had a tongue that could produce both sugar and poison. It’s no surprise, then, that her letters make for a brilliant read.

@claire_harman considers some of the most entertaining.

Claire Harman - Fighting Words

Claire Harman: Fighting Words - The Letters of Muriel Spark, Volume 1: 1944-1963 by Dan Gunn

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