A family history of the once-revered British tea shops is enthrallingOf all of this country’s bygone entertainments, the ones I most regret having missed are a night at a musical hall and tea at a Lyons Corner House. The latter’s disappearance is the more poignant, for it is a loss...

This was where I came to understand the power and burden of my sexuality – and I revisited the place in all three of my booksI ricocheted across Britain from the fishing working class of Aberdeen where I was born. Up and down the country we went, taking in mining...