Author Archives: Jeffrey Manley

Decline and Fall: Two Editions on Offer

Oxford University Press has posted promotional material for a special edition of Decline and Fall, Evelyn Waugh’s first novel. This is rewritten for Level 6 English language learners (secondary and adult students) by Clare West. It is part of the … Continue reading

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Summer Solstice Roundup

–A new biography has been written of Lord Beaverbrook, primary model for Lord Copper in Waugh’s novel Scoop. This is reviewed by Richard Davenport-Hines in the current TLS. The review opens with this: There have been previous biographies of the … Continue reading

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Report of Recent Waugh Event

A local Oxfordshire news weblog has posted this report of a recent evening of Waugh-related presentations at the Abingdon Arms in Beckley, a village near Oxford: On June 3rd the pub hosted three emerging talents as the grand finale of … Continue reading

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Father’s Day Roundup

–In response to the feverish political activity in London, The Independent newspaper has composed a list of the Top 10 fictional Prime Ministers. While no Waugh character makes the top 10, he is awarded an Honourable Mention: Honourable mentions for … Continue reading

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Letters to Maro

An auction house has on offer 5 letters and a post card from Evelyn Waugh to Maro Stathatos (nee Vatimbella, 1919-1989) and her son John. These were written in the period February 1962-October 1963 and are in the nature of … Continue reading

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Weedon Grossmith (d. 14 June 1919)

Weedon Grossmith, best known as the co-author of The Diary of a Nobody (1892) died 100 years ago today. His collaborator was his brother George Grossmith who died in 1912. They were both also successful stage performers and wrote scripts … Continue reading

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New Betjeman Collection

The Sunday Times has previewed a new collection of previously unpublished poems by Waugh’s friend John Betjeman, some of which have fairly explicit homosexual themes. The collection is entitled Harvest Bells and will be published later this month: A newly discovered … Continue reading

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Roundup: Wavian Influences

–A long-neglected British artist named Frank Bowling is enjoying a renewal of interest in his work. This is led by a retrospective at the Tate Britain which opened on 31 May and continues through 26 August. Another smaller exhibit includes … Continue reading

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Brideshead at 75

It was 75 years today that Evelyn Waugh completed his draft of Brideshead Revisited and sent it off to the typist. According to Robert Murray Davis (Evelyn Waugh, Writer, Chapter 6), Waugh had first mentioned writing another novel in October … Continue reading

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Edmund Campion, Father Pro and Brideshead Revsited

Gerard Kilroy has written an interesting essay appearing this week in the Tablet. Prof Kilroy is the co-editor of the Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh volume of Waugh’s biography of Edmund Campion. The essay begins with a discussion of Campion’s … Continue reading

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