The Kiss by Katie Barclay review – a history of passion, power and puckering up

From heads of state to foot-kissing knights, Hollywood romcoms to sex, a fascinating story of the gesture that for centuries has brought people together If, on a European holiday, you get flustered greeting people – should you kiss? how many times? – spare a thought for Dutch theologian Desiderius Erasmus. Visiting England in 1499, he found a nation of enthusiastic kissers. “Wherever you go, you are received on all hands with kisses; when you take leave you are dismissed with kisses,” he wrot...

By Tiffany Watt Smith