–The BBC has added several Waugh-related programs. Most notably, the BBC Four TV channel will air a TV rebroadcast of two programs on 9 April. These include the theatrical film adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, first broadcast on BBC in 2011 following theatrical distribution. This will air at 20:00 UK time. It will be followed by a recording of the 1960 BBC Face to Face TV interview of Evelyn Waugh by John Freeman at 22:05.
The film is described as follows in the BBC Four announcement:
Film adaptation of the novel by Evelyn Waugh. In the early spring of 1944 Charles Ryder, a disillusioned army captain, arrives at Brideshead Castle, the new Brigade Headquarters. It is a place he knows well, and he is transported back in time to 1922 and his first meeting with Sebastian Flyte, the younger son of Lord Marchmain. Charles Ryder proceeds to tell in flashback the story of his association with the castle and the doomed aristocratic Flyte family.
The Face to Face interview is also described:
John Freeman faced a difficult subject in Evelyn Waugh when he interviewed him in 1960. Waugh, author of Brideshead Revisited, was in characteristically obstructive frame of mind. The result is a rare glimpse into the life and temperament of one of the greatest novelists of this century.
There will also be a rebroadcast of a 2016 BBC Radio Three discussion on 5 April at 22:00. Here is a description:
A celebration of Evelyn Waugh to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. Matthew Sweet is joined by two writers who are long term admirers – Adam Mars-Jones and Bryony Lavery and by Waugh’s latest biographer, Philip Eade and his grandson and editor, Alexander Waugh.
Brideshead Revisited – adapted by Bryony Lavery – runs at York Theatre Royal from Fri 22 Apr – Sat 30 Apr and then goes on tour to Bath, Southampton, Cambridge, Malvern, Brighton, Oxford, Richmond.
Evelyn Waugh – A Life Revisited by Philip Eade will be published in July.
The 50th anniversary of Waugh’s death in 1966 was in 2016.
Finally, another rebroadcast which is currently available on BBC Radio Four’s “Great Lives” series is also noted:
Comedian Russell Kane nominates the novelist Evelyn Waugh.
One of the greatest prose stylists of 20th century literature, not to mention one of the funniest, novelist Waugh also has a reputation for being a snob, a bully, and a dyed-in-the-wool reactionary.
How much of this was a self-parodying pose, and how much the underlying truth?
Russell is supported by literary critic Ann Pasternak Slater. Both are unabashed Waugh fans.
Russell calls him “a ninja master of banter”, but series presenter Matthew Parris says he can’t stand him…
This will continue to be available until 9 April.
–The Hay Festival has published a list of its events for this year’s edition to be held 21-31 May at Hay-on-Wye. These include “Event 106” which is described as follows:
Bright Young Things
Book to Screen: Film Screening
Sunday 24 May 2026, 4pm – 5.45pm – MUBI Cinema
Stephen Fry’s directorial debut is a dapper look at the swish society circles of pre-war London. Fizzing with wit and insight, this frolicking adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies brims with well-polished pleasures.In 1930s England, a group of reckless socialites dominate national gossip. Among them, aspiring novelist Adam is trying to raise enough money to marry Nina. While his attempts are constantly thwarted, his friends are slowly on the road to destruction in their search for newer and faster sensations.
Directed by Stephen Fry (2003). Film duration: 1 hour 42 minutes. Certificate 15.
The event is co-sponsored by the film distributor MUBI, but the film presentation will not apparently be accompanied by any discussion or appearances involving the producers or cast of the film. In any event, the announcement also notes that all tickets for this event have been sold.
—The Observer has published an “Essential Reading List for those Ready to Reinvent Themselves”. This is written by author Adam Steiner and Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited is at the top of the list:
Waugh is the classic English author of black humor and biting social satire. With this book, he dialed back the cruelty and acerbic tone and wrote in his most luxuriant and rich style. This book presents Waugh’s departure to write more deeply about love and to expose the fickle naivety of the British class system, culminating in the never-ending flame of his Catholic faith. It is one of the best books about friendship, and how these early bonds of youth can twist and turn as our lives change shape into adulthood.
For more information on the list and how it was prepared, see this link.
–Finally, the Amsterdam News (a New York paper covering Harlem) has published an article about “The Real House Housewives of the Harlem Renaissance”. This is by Michael Henry Adams and includes this contribution by Evelyn Waugh:
…Evelyn Waugh’s diaries give an account of his encounter with the Turner Laytons. He wrote of going to a party given by “Layton the black man” at the studio of an artist called “Stuart Hill. All very refined — hot lobster, champagne cup and music. Florence Mills, Delysia, John Huggins, Layton and Johnstone[,] and others sang songs.” If Waugh was okay with jazz and as a brief encounter, even so unsavory a social occasion, the sexual risk of someone like fashionable singer Leslie “Hutch” Hutchinson, who “carried-on” with women and men, from the highest strata of London, was not…
Mrs. Turner Layton is one of the principal subjects of the article. Given Waugh’s antipathy to music (he found listening to it painful), it should not be assumed without more detailed research that the jazz music on offer in the quoted text was “okay” by him. The events in which he took part were apparently in 1927 and were located in London, not New York (Diaries, 281-83). See also Martin Stannard, vol. 1, p. 133: “Waugh disliked this association with Jazz Age black Americans; he had no ear for music, he felt superior to coloured people. But the fashionable world had taken them up and he was too uncertain of himself to disregard the fashionable world.”
