Will This Do?: The First Fifty Years of Auberon Waugh

'The only question left hanging in the air is the one which every journalist asks himself on submitting an article. It is also the one with which we may all eventually, in trembling hope, face our Maker: Will this do?'

The question should rather be: How does one cope with being the son of a father as famous as Evelyn Waugh? From this side-splittingly funny autobiography it is clear to see that the young Auberon more than managed. A privileged background, unusual childhood and public school education are followed by Oxford and a career as a writer and columnist. Waugh's portrait of his father is affectionate yet droll, his tone self-deprecating, and his stories entertaining and sad by turns. The biting wit is addictive.

A journalist, satirist and novelist, Auberon Waugh was born in Dulverton, Somerset, in 1939, the eldest son of Evelyn Waugh. He was educated at Downside and Christ Church, Oxford, where he made a number of lifelong friends and the first of his enemies. Vendettas were to be a feature of his journalism. Waugh was a columnist for The Spectator for more than twenty years and wrote a diary for Private Eye for fifteen. He was a regular contributor to The Daily Telegraph (most famously his 'Way of the World' column which ran for ten years) and the Sunday Telegraph for much of his working life. He became editor of The Literary Review in 1986. In addition to his witty, 'vituperative' columns, Waugh wrote five novels. Auberon Waugh died in 2001.