COMBE FLOREY?
I would really like to write about Waugh's last eight years.
As to when, that very much depends on how long it takes for me to push a barrow from PIers Court, Gloucestershire, to Combe Florey, Somerset.
If I get my finger out, it could be days or weeks. On the other hand, it could be months or years.
UPDATE, 2017
Just spent the last eighteen months writing about 32 other writers. See www.penpals.org.uk Result is, I'm no nearer to Combe Florey in summer of 2017 than I was in autumn, 2015.
UPDATE, 2018
Have just posted this. And my next move will be to go back into the Piers Court section and cover obvious omissions, such as the writing of Men At Arms and Officers and Gentlemen; plus Waugh's disdain for Picasso and his admiration for Spencelayh, plus his meeting with George Orwell. Thus by-passing Combe Florey for the moment. But I'll get there in due course. I think.
UPDATE, 2024
I don't think it's going to happen after all. I'm working on a biography of the conceptual artist On Kawara now, and have been since 2021. Occasionally, I get back to Evelyn Waugh's world when someone hands me fascinating material on a plate. See the last few pieces in the 'ENDINGS' section of this site. And I'm happy with that state of affairs.
UPDATE, 2025
A copyright issue has come up. See this page. Perversely, it's emboldened me to reinstate a few images for which Getty hold the copyright, photos by Kurt Hutton in 1955, taken when Evelyn was about to turn 52. I removed them from the essay 'The Ordeal of Duncan McLaren', two up in the menu from this one, on the grounds that I was infringing copyright, but those photos of Evelyn Waugh in his prime and standing in his own grounds are historically important. They are of special interest to anyone who wants to understand who Evelyn Waugh really was when he was at home. I feel the following sequence gets to the heart of both Evelyn Waugh's powerful personality and the influence he has exerted over me down the years. So instead of going on to Combe Florey, I go back to Piers Court. And I take you, dear reader, back there too. One more time:
With thanks to Lewis Carroll, and not for the first time. An adaptation of 'The Aged, Aged Man' is first used in Barford Revisited, focusing on young Evelyn Waugh. The 'nonsense' (not the right word) verse of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear crops up on several occasions in this website. Thankfully, Evelyn Waugh was a life-long admirer of them both. Colour photos by John Wilson, whose Piers Court is called The Tractor Shed.
Now I can bring this 'Piers Court Capers' section to an end. Because I've realised that the set of photos taken by Kurt Hutton for Picture Post are not only superb but that there is a reason why they are so good.
The photos were taken on June 25, 1955. Waugh had just written a piece for the Spectator about the invasion of his property committed by Nancy Spain (Daily Express) and Lord Noel Buxton (House of Lords) on June 21 1955. The interview on June 25 was about his latest book, Officers and Gentlemen. All of that no doubt explains why his poses for the camera were so proprietal.
Evelyn Waugh: Lord of all he surveyed.
An Evelyn Waugh's home is his castle.
At the foot of the one-page article in Picture Post, Waugh states. 'I'm very lazy. It may be two years before I start another book. Nothing happens to you after you are fifty. I'm fifty-two. So I have to spread out what there is. I have seven children to educate.'
I'm sure Evelyn would have said six children. Septimus was named so as to be a constant reminder of the lost child, Mary.
