Diaries, 1971-1983 - Hardcover

Lees-Milne, James; Bloch, Michael

4.37

46 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0719566827 ISBN 13: 9780719566820

Publisher: John Murray, 2007

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James Lees-Milne (1908-1997) was both a noted expert on the English country house, and perhaps the greatest British diarist of the 20th century. Funny, indiscreet, candid, touching, and sharply observed, his journals reveal a fascinating personality and hold up a mirror to historical events large and small. This abridged volume covers Lees-Milne’s life during his sixties and early seventies, when he was living in Gloucestershire with his formidable wife Alvilde. The vicissitudes of a writer's lot are vividly portrayed, and the merry-go-round of life on the Badminton estate of the eccentric Duke of Beaufort is charmingly illustrated, as are various meetings with many friends new and old. Visible throughout this unique collection are Lees-Milne’s most remarkably poignant own feelings of joy, regret, frustration, amusement, and love.

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About the Author:

Michael Bloch was appointed James Lees-Milne’s literary executor in 1997 and is currently writing his biography.

Review:

'Acute observation is coupled with entertaining literary style and ever-present humour ... Michael Bloch has edited these diaries formidably well' -- Bevis Hillier 'Woefully funny, elegantly observed, appallingly indiscreet, these diaries are the best record we have of a world still recognizable but fast vanishing beneath the waves of history' -- Peter Parker 'His pages abound in delightful shafts of self-revelation ... a singularly funny, modest, sweet, lovable gentleman whose controversial prose is yet infused with a poetic vision of the essence of Old England' -- Hugh Massingberd 'Raw emotions, fearlessly expressed, spice every page' -- Duff Hart-Davis 'Always honest, always curious, always lovable' -- Lynn Barber 'What matters the clash of titans, when a clear and fastidious intellect shares its preoccupation with the minutiae of a civilised gentleman's day?' -- Alan Clark 'The qualities which make his diaries addictive reading include a sense of the ridiculous, and a total frankness about whatever shows him at a disadvantage. He is wonderfully observant, and his sheer humanity shines out on every page' -- The Field 'Unquestionably one of the greatest English diarists, a rival to Pepys' -- David Watkin

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