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Boswell this is not ; A new biography of Samuel Johnson to mark the tercentenary of his birth adds nothing to our knowledge and suffers badly in comparison with earlier masterpieces

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From: Evening Standard - London
Date: 20080721
Author:DAVID SEXTON

Samuel Johnson: A Biography by Peter Martin (Weidenfeld, [pounds]25) NEXT year marks the tercentenary of Johnsons birth in September 1709; thus Peter Martins new biography is an early strike on the commemorative market.

Martin tells us that he fears Johnson is too little known these days, in spite of his iconic status and occasional programmes about him on television and on the radio. He conducted spot inter-views in the high streets of English towns and found that only a quarter of the people he met could identify him.

Some wondered whether he was a boxer, or a contemporary of Shake- ...

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