Category Archives: Humo(u)r

Smallbeer, the Professor and Waugh

D J Taylor writing in the current issue of The Critic describes how Professor Barry Mole managed to eke a career out of the works of the largely forgotten 1930s poet Esme Smallbeer. This is the latest entry in his … Continue reading

Posted in Humo(u)r, Newspapers | Tagged , | Comments Off on Smallbeer, the Professor and Waugh

Two Essays: Orwell’s Comic Novels and Waugh’s Oxford

There are two well written and interesting essays this week relating to Waugh. The first is by Jonathan Clarke and appears in the quarterly City Journal. This is entitled “Orwell’s Humor” and relates mainly to his two 1930s comic novels … Continue reading

Posted in A Handful of Dust, Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh, Fiction, Humo(u)r, Newspapers, Oxford | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Two Essays: Orwell’s Comic Novels and Waugh’s Oxford

P J O’Rourke 1947-2022 R.I.P.

American satirist P J O’Rourke died earlier this week at the age of 74. He made his name as a conservative commentator but was an equal opportunity satirist. For example,  according to the obituary in the Washington Post, he once … Continue reading

Posted in Humo(u)r, Newspapers, Scoop | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on P J O’Rourke 1947-2022 R.I.P.

New Books: Chagford and Fish Knives

–American novelist Chuck Etheridge has published earlier this year a new book entitled Chagford Revisited. Here’s the description from the publisher: Marker, an American Anglophile software engineer, has purchased the home Evelyn Waugh stayed in while writing Brideshead Revisited. He … Continue reading

Posted in Fiction, Humo(u)r, Interviews, Newspapers, Waugh Family | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on New Books: Chagford and Fish Knives

Midsummer Night’s Roundup

–The Jermyn Street Theatre has announced a production that may be of interest to Waugh enthusiasts: Mr and Mrs Nobody is […] adapted from the popular comic novel Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith,  Keith Waterhouse‘s Mr … Continue reading

Posted in A Handful of Dust, Adaptations, Humo(u)r, Newspapers, The Loved One, Theater | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Midsummer Night’s Roundup

Waugh’s Hoax on April Fools Day

The Economist in recognition of the importance of April Fools Day has published a list of famous hoaxes. These were not necessarily perpetrated on the day itself. One category was art hoaxes. These included the Nat Tate wheeze concocted by … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Photography & Sculpture, Auctions, Brideshead Revisited, Humo(u)r, Newspapers | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Waugh’s Hoax on April Fools Day

Evelyn Waugh as Seen by Anthony Blanche

This week’s Spectator has another writing competition in which a Waugh entry gets a mention. This is #3177 and the topic is “a well-known fictional person’s view of their author”.  The Spectator’s  Lucy Vickery cites some interesting non-winners in her … Continue reading

Posted in Brideshead Revisited, Humo(u)r, Newspapers, Vile Bodies | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Evelyn Waugh as Seen by Anthony Blanche

Evelyn’s Last Dance

Duncan McLaren has posted two articles in his Brideshead Festival series in which Evelyn Waugh ponders the contents of the last two volumes of Anthony Powell’s Dance to the Music of Time. These are Temporary Kings (1973) and Hearing Secret … Continue reading

Posted in Evelyn Waugh, Festivals, Humo(u)r, Men at Arms, Put Out More Flags, Scott-King's Modern Europe | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Evelyn’s Last Dance

Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh

In Duncan McLaren’s latest series of articles, Evelyn Waugh’s friends from Oxford are collecting at the Brideshead Festival. The last of these, by my count based on Duncan’s own projections, is Graham Greene. The first installment of the Greene episode … Continue reading

Posted in Brideshead Revisited, Festivals, Humo(u)r | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh

A Buyer’s Market for Quennell and Connolly

Duncan McLaren has aded another article about Evelyn Waugh’s interest in Anthony Powell’s novel cycle Dance to the Music of Time. In this one, Evelyn and Nancy Mitford continue their discussion of Powell’s books, focussing on the second in the … Continue reading

Posted in Articles, Discussions, Humo(u)r, Vile Bodies | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment