From a young age, Victoria kept a diary until close to her death
“Don’t let every little feeling be read in your face and seen in your manner.” Queen Victoria certainly took her own advice. But as inscrutable as this iconic monarch’s public-facing image was, her personal feelings have since been revealed through her diaries and letters. Tis issue, we ask the celebrated historian Lucy Worsley how these private words have shed light on Victoria’s life and deeds from page 44.
JRR Tolkien dealt in more public words. In assessing his life (p28), we explore how this modest Oxford don created Middle Earth, the setting of his much-loved booksTe Hobbit and Te Lord of the Rings. Another heavily influential 20th-century cultural figure was the record producer Joe Meek (p54), whose successful but short career was troubled and tormented.