Armagnac - the spirit of Gascony

To a Gascon, there can be something almost sacrosanct about an after-dinner glass of Armagnac – the flavoursome, potent and historic brandy produced over just a few thousand hectares in southwestern France.

Sitting in a brasserie in Auch (pronounced Ohsh), within sight of the huge and impressive 15th-century cathedral of Sainte Marie, local wine connoisseur Guillaume Durand cradles a tulip-shaped glass in his hand and tells me about Armagnac’s finer details.

‘First, you look and smell,’ he says, swirling the fragrant amber-coloured liquid around, bowing his head to bring his nose closer to its quarry – but not too close, as he is quick to point out. ‘There should be fruitiness there, something to tell you about the grapes and a hint of caramel, toffee or nougat perhaps.’

Butlers: the gentleman’s gentleman

Visualise a butler and you may well find yourself thinking of a figure such as PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves, Carson in TV series Downton Abbey or Stevens, central character of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, The Remains of the Day.

‘A butler of any quality must be seen to inhabit his role, utterly and fully,’ wrote the Japanese novelist, ‘he cannot be seen casting it aside one moment simply to don it again the next as though it were nothing more than a pantomime costume.’

His book and those of Wodehouse were set in an era when servants were still key to British country houses, the early decades of the 20th century.

Petra – Jordan’s unforgettable city

The elderly Bedouin has decided that honesty is the best policy. 

‘These I dug up here in Petra with my own hands,’ he says, pointing to a cardboard tray while holding up a well-used trowel. Then he indicates a second tray. ‘These are made in China.’

At first glance there is little to differentiate the two. Both contain weathered, sand-blown pottery lamps and statuettes.