Description

The second volume of the remarkable, Sunday Times bestselling diaries of Chips Channon.

‘A masterpiece – a time machine that transports the reader back to British politics and high society at the end of the 1930s.’ Robert Harris

‘The uncensored, unvarnished thought of one of the 20th century’s greatest diarists. – Best Biographies of the Year, Telegraph

‘An unrivalled guide to the social and political life of Britain in the first half of the 20th century.’ Books of the Year, The Times

‘Fascinating.’ New Statesman

‘Never a dull day, never a dull sentence.’ Daily Mail
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This second volume of the bestselling diaries of Henry ‘Chips’ Channon takes us from the heady aftermath of the Munich agreement, when the Prime Minister so admired by Chips was credited with having averted a general European conflagration, through the rapid unravelling of appeasement, and on to the tribulations of the early years of the Second World War. It closes with a moment of hope, as Channon, in recording the fall of Mussolini in July 1943, reflects: ‘The war must be more than half over.’

For much of this period, Channon is genuinely an eye-witness to unfolding events. He reassures Neville Chamberlain as he fights for his political life in May 1940. He chats to Winston Churchill while the two men inspect the bombed-out chamber of the House of Commons a few months later. From his desk at the Foreign Office he charts the progress of the war. But with the departure of his boss ‘Rab’ Butler to the Ministry of Education, and Channon’s subsequent exclusion from the corridors of power, his life changes – and with it the preoccupations and tone of the diaries. The conduct of the war remains a constant theme, but more personal preoccupations come increasingly to the fore. As he throws himself back into the pleasures of society, he records his encounters with the likes of Noel Coward, Prince Philip, General de Gaulle and Oscar Wilde’s erstwhile lover Lord Alfred Douglas. He describes dinners with members of European royal dynasties, and recounts gossip and scandal about the great, the good and the less good. And he charts the implosion of his marriage and his burgeoning, passionate friendship with a young officer on Wavell’s staff.

These are diaries that bring a whole epoch vividly to life.

Publisher Review

This is a masterpiece about a period that fascinates me - a time machine that transports the reader back to British politics and high society at the end of the 1930s, as Europe stands on the brink of a catastrophe that will destroy the very world it describes. -- Robert Harris * Daily Mail * Page for page, name for name, there is no one better than Chips Channon at the particular blend of insight, snobbery and self-regard that is the hallmark of really great diarists . . . Chips knew everyone, went everywhere, and spared nothing. Of Philip Kindersley, first husband of Oonagh Guinness, he writes, 'A good-looking, almost dashing "Ya-hoo" . . . very common naked, which is such a test'. Of Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother, 'She is well bred, kind, gentle and slack . . . She is fundamentally lazy, very lazy and charming . . . She will never be a great Queen for she will never be up in time!' At nearly 1,000 pages, and with the broadest cast of characters, Chips is the clear winner! * Independent Ireland * The greatest British diarist of the 20th century. A feast of weapons-grade above-stairs gossip. Now, finally, we are getting the full text, in all its bitchy, scintillating detail, thanks to the journalist and historian Simon Heffer, whose editing of this vast trove of material represents an astonishing achievement. Channon is a delightful guide, by turns frivolous and profound. -- Ben Macintyre * The Times * Wickedly entertaining . . . scrupulously edited and annotated by Simon Heffer. Genuinely shocking, and still revelatory. -- Andrew Marr * New Stateman * Channon's chief virtue as a writer is his abiding awareness that dullness is the worst sin of all, and for this reason they're among the most glittering and enjoyable [diaries] ever written. * Observer *