The most powerful vice president in US history

When Dick Cheney took office as George W Bush's vice president in 2001, says The Washington Post, one of his predecessors, Dan Quayle, privately warned him he would spend most of his time attending funerals and fundraisers. Cheney flashed his trademark crooked grin and replied: "I have a different understanding with the president." So it proved. Cheney, who has died aged 84, became the most powerful vice president in US history. He persuaded Bush to invade Iraq, to subject terror suspects in Guantánamo Bay to what he called "robust interrogation" (what most people call torture), and to authorise the electronic surveillance of millions of US citizens. Asked early in their first term how many times he had met privately with the president, he replied: "Let me see – three, four, five, six, seven times… today."

Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cheney won a scholarship to Yale but dropped out and wound up fixing electricity lines and drinking too much. After an ultimatum from his wife, he straightened out, moved to Washington and by 34 had become the youngest-ever White House chief of staff, to Gerald Ford. He spent more than 10 years in Congress – once demanding a correction when a newspaper described him as "moderate" rather than conservative – before heading up the oil services giant Halliburton. His "defining moment" was 9/11. With Bush on Air Force One, Cheney took command at the White House. Without hesitating, he authorised the military to shoot down any passenger jet thought to be under terrorist control, and asked his lawyer to start thinking about what "extraordinary new powers" would be needed to respond to the attack. "I'll freely admit," he said in 2009, "that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities."

🦆😫 Cheney's low point – besides several heart scares – came in 2006 when he accidentally shot and wounded a 78-year-old lawyer during a quail hunt in Texas. "I have no intention of becoming a lame-duck president," Bush said the following year. "Unless, of course, Cheney accidentally shoots me in the leg."

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Property

THE RIVER HOUSE Longparish is a 10-bedroom, Grade II-listed home in rural Hampshire, says the FT. On the ground floor are the kitchen, a pantry, two dining rooms, a drawing room, a library, a study, a ballroom, a gym and a spa area including a pool, a sauna and a steam room. On the first floor are nine of the bedrooms, most of which are en-suite and two of which come with dressing rooms, and the final en-suite bedroom is on the second floor. It's set in 282 acres and includes fishing rights on the River Test. Overton station is an eight-minute drive with trains to London in under an hour. £35m. Click on the image to see the listing.

Heroes and villains

Rishi Sunak committing a sartorial crime. Dan Kitwood/Getty

Villains
Quarter-zip tops, says Flora Gill in the Daily Mail, which for some reason are becoming an increasingly popular fashion choice among young-ish men. The "drippy, passive outerlayer" used to be the preserve of ghastly finance bros, but ever since Succession others have decided that they too can project "quiet luxury" with some dreary top from M&S. Enough. Quarter-zips are the red trousers of my generation – a "sartorial parasite" that needs to be destroyed.

Hero
A 77-year-old French cyclist who fell 130 feet into a ravine and survived for three days on nothing but red wine. The perseverant pensioner had cycled to the supermarket in the mountainous region of Cévennes to pick up a few bottles of vin rouge, so when his efforts to climb out failed he naturally cracked them open. He was eventually discovered by road workers, presumably a little worse for wear.

You're missing out

Roger Moore (L) and Daniel Craig

To read the rest of today's heroes and villains, as well as pieces on what it takes to be a modern gentleman (including an enjoyable argument about who is the best Bond), and a wonderful, seasonal piece about the joy of rare English apples, simply click below. New subscribers get 50% off for the first year – just £4 a month or £40 for the whole year.

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