Auberon Waugh

Auberon Alexander Waugh/ˈɔːbərənˈwɔː/(17 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) was a British journalist and novelist, and eldest son of the novelistEvelyn Waugh.He was widely known by his nickname "Bron".

Auberon Waugh
Born	Auberon Alexander Waugh (1939-11-17)17 November 1939 Dulverton,Somerset, England
Died	17 January 2001(2001-01-17)(aged 61) Combe Florey,Somerset, England
Occupation	Journalist, novelist
Education	Downside School
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford
Period	1960–2000
Genre	Novel, journalism
Spouse	Lady Teresa Onslow ​ (m.1961)​
Children	4, includingAlexanderandDaisy Waugh
Parents	Evelyn Waugh Laura Herbert
Relatives	Arthur Waugh(paternal grandfather) Aubrey Herbert(maternal grandfather) Alec Waugh(paternal uncle)

After a traditional classical education atDownside School,he was commissioned in the army duringNational Service,where he was badly injured in a shooting accident. He went on to study for a year atOxford University.

At twenty, he launched his journalism career at theTelegraph Group,and also wrote for many other publications includingPrivate Eye,in which he presented a profile that was half Tory grandee and half cheeky rebel. As a young man, Waugh wrote five well-received novels, but gave up fiction for fear of unfavourable comparisons with his father.

He and his wife Lady Teresa had four children and lived atCombe Florey Housein Somerset.

Origins

Waugh was born atPixton Park,nearDulvertonin Somerset, his mother's ancestral home.He was the eldest son of the novelistEvelyn Waugh,grandson of the author and publisherArthur Waughand nephew ofAlec Waugh.His mother was Laura Herbert, his father's second wife, a daughter of ColonelAubrey Herbert(1880–1923) of Pixton, diplomat and traveller, a younger son ofHenry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon,ofHighclere Castlein Hampshire, a leading member of theConservative Party,by his second wife Elizabeth Howard, a great-niece ofBernard Howard, 12th Duke of Norfolk,and a sister ofEsmé Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Penrith,ambassador to the United States. Laura's half-uncle wasGeorge Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon,the famousEgyptologistwho sponsored Howard Carter who discovered KingTutankhamen's tomb, and her mother was Hon. Mary Gertrude Vesey, only child and sole heiress ofJohn Vesey, 4th Viscount de Vesci(1844–1903).

He was named afterAuberon Herbert(1922–1974), his mother's brother, a landowner and advocate of Eastern European causes afterWorld War II,himself named afterAuberon Herbert(1838–1906), a son of the 3rd Earl of Carnarvon. His nickname used by friends and family was "Bron".

Early life

Born just as World War II broke out, Waugh hardly saw his father until he was five.His parents beingRoman Catholics(his mother by birth and his father by conversion), he was educated at theBenedictineDownside Schoolin Somersetand passed his Greek and LatinA-levelexams at the early age of fifteen. He went on to begin aphilosophy, politics, and economicsdegree atChrist Church, Oxford,where he held anexhibitionin English. He wasrusticatedby the academic authorities, and never returned to the university, preferring to make an early start in journalism.

Career

During hisNational Service,he was commissioned into theRoyal Horse Guardsand served inCyprus,where he was almost killed in a machine gun accident. Annoyed by a fault in the machine gun on his armoured car which he drove frequently, he seized the end of the barrel and shook it, accidentally triggering the mechanism so that the gun fired several bullets through his chest.As a result of his injuries, he lost his spleen, one lung, several ribs, and a finger, and suffered from pain and recurring infections for the rest of his life. While lying on the ground waiting for an ambulance, his troop sergeant kept him alive by providing vitalfirst aid.He was first treated for his injuries atNicosia General Hospital.While recuperating from the accident in Italy, he began his first novel,The Foxglove Saga.

Journalism

Waugh began his career in journalism during 1960 as a cub reporter on Peterborough, the social/gossip column ofThe Daily Telegraph.

His early work as political columnist onThe Spectatorcoincided with thewarinBiafra,a mainly Catholic province that had tried to secede fromNigeria.Waugh strongly criticisedHarold Wilson's government, especially the foreign secretaryMichael Stewart,for colluding in the use ofmass starvationas a political weapon. He was sacked fromThe Spectatorin 1970, but with the support ofBernard Levinand others, he won damages for unfair dismissal in a subsequent action.

He was opposed to the reforms of theSecond Vatican Counciland criticised the Church that emerged from it. He was often critical of ArchbishopsBasil HumeandDerek Worlock.

He also wrote for theNew Statesman,British Medicineand various newspapers (including theDaily Mirror,Daily Mail,Evening StandardandThe Independent). From 1981 to 1990 he wrote a leader-page column forThe Sunday Telegraph.In 1990 he returned toThe Daily Telegraphas the successor ofMichael Wharton(better known as "Peter Simple" ), writing the paper's long-runningWay of the Worldcolumn three times a week until December 2000. In 1995 he finally ended his long association withThe Spectator,but in 1996 he rejoinedThe Sunday Telegraph,where he remained a weekly columnist until shortly before his death.

Private Eye

Waugh became known for hisPrivate Eyediary, which ran from the early 1970s until 1985, and which he described as "specifically dedicated to telling lies".He fitted in well with theEye,although he made clear his particular dislike of theLabourgovernment of the 1970s. The education secretaryShirley Williamsbecame an especial hate figure because of her support forcomprehensive education.In his autobiographyWill This Do?,Waugh claimed that he had broken two bottles of wine by banging them together too hard to celebrate when she lost her House of Commons seat atHertford and Stevenagein the general election of 1979.

Waugh was himself a candidate at the 1979 election, indulging another of his pet hates, formerLiberalLeaderJeremy Thorpe,who was about to stand trial for conspiracy to murder in ascandalthat Waugh had helped to expose.It was alleged that Thorpe had links to an incident in which a man calledNorman Scott,who claimed to have had an affair with Thorpe, had seen his dog shot dead. Waugh stood against Thorpe for the Dog Lovers' Party inNorth Devon,and Thorpe obtained an injunction against the distribution of Waugh's election literature;but despite thisThe SpectatorandThe Guardianboth printed it in full.Waugh polled only 79 votes, but Thorpe lost his seat.

Waugh leftPrivate Eyein 1986 whenIan HislopsucceededRichard Ingramsas editor.

Waugh's views

Waugh tended to be identified with a defiantly anti-progressive, small-c conservatism, opposed to "do-gooders" and social progressives. After his death the left-wing journalistPolly ToynbeeinThe Guardianattacked him for these views.He has been called a nostalgist and a romantic, with a strong tendency towards snobbery, although his anarchistic streak ensured that he retained the admiration of a number of people whom he would have considered "progressive" or "leftish", includingFrancis Wheen,who vociferously disagreed with Toynbee's obituary comments.

Waugh expressed an intense dislike of poetEzra Pound.In aSpectatorcolumn of 20 March 1976, he wrote: "Ezra Pound, as I remember, wrote some disgusting lines about storm clouds over Westminster in hisCantos.I haven't looked at them for twenty-one years and certainly don't intend to look them up again now. Ever since I was fifteen when I first read Pound's boring filth, the thought of storm clouds over Westminster has filled me with nausea and gloom. "In a letter dated 15 January 1973, writerGuy Davenportreported, "Auberon Waugh in the English press giggled over Ez's demise [1 November 1972], informing his audience that Pound's silly verse was so much twaddle, and his example the cause of Modern Poetry and all its vulgar pretense. He also confesses that he immensely enjoyed torturing Pound in the madhouse with letters asking what passages inThe Cantosmight mean. Pound's replies, tedious and lengthy, he destroyed after having his laugh. "

Waugh broadly supportedMargaret Thatcherin her first years as prime minister, but by 1983 he became disillusioned by the government's economic policy, which he felt used the destructive economics and cultural ideas of theNew Right.When Thatcher became a strong public opponent of his friend andSunday TelegrapheditorPeregrine Worsthorne,Waugh became a staunch opponent of Thatcher. Her closeness toThe Sunday Times'editorAndrew Neil,whom Waugh despised, further confirmed his view.

To a traditionalTory,these were some of the most deplorable aspects of the Thatcher years. There was a certain amount of public posturing in his popularanti-Americanism;he visited the US whenever he could, and spent notable time holidaying in New England and on US speaking tours.

He had a house in France and, despite his conservatism, was a fervent supporter ofEuropean integrationand thesingle currency,which he saw as a means of de-Americanising the UK. He said that his ideal government would be a "junta of Belgian ticket inspectors". Neither did he conform to reactionary stereotypes in his strongopposition to the death penalty,or in his antipathy towards the police force in general (especially when they sought to preventdrink-driving;Waugh believed strongly that this was not as serious a problem as it is widely believed to be, and referred to the anti-drink-driving campaign as the "police terror" ). He opposedanti-tobacco smoking legislationand in his later years he was highly critical of Labour attempts to banfox hunting.In 1995 he was against attempts by the thenHome SecretaryMichael Howardto introduce anational identity card,a policy which at the time was opposed by theLabour Party.Along withPatrick MarnhamandRichard West,Waugh was one of three signatories to a letter toThe Timesthat called for a British monument to honour those repatriated as a result of theYalta Conference;it waseventually erected in 1986.

Waugh held that while thedangers of smoking(especiallypassive smoking) and drinking were exaggerated, the dangers ofhamburgereating were seriously under-reported; he frequently referred to "hamburger gases" as a serious form of atmospheric pollution and even made references to the dangers of "passive hamburger eating". He also claimed that computer games "produce all the symptoms and most known causes of cancer". The Tobacco Advisory Council of the UK organised a pro-smoking book to be ghosted for eitherBernard Levinor Auberon Waugh.Neither columnist agreed to put their name to it, but Waugh wrote a foreword endorsing the book and hitting out at the anti-smoking lobby: "Let us hope this book strikes a blow against the new control terrorists", he said. He also posed for photos with a cigarette in his hand.

Family

In 1961, Auberon Waugh marriedLady Teresa Onslow,daughter of the6th Earl of Onslow.They had four children:

• Margaret Sophia Laura Waugh (b. 1962)
• Alexander Evelyn Michael Waugh(30 December 1963 – 22 July 2024)
• Daisy Louisa Dominica Waugh(b. 1967)
• Nathaniel Thomas Biafra Waugh (b. 1968)

They lived at the Old Rectory,Chilton Foliat,Wiltshire, from 1964 to 1971, then moved into Waugh's father's old home,Combe Florey Housein Somerset.

Literary career

Waugh wrote five novels before giving up writing fiction, partly in protest at the inadequate money authors received frompublic lending rightsat libraries and partly because he knew he would always be compared unfavourably to his father. The five novels are:

• The Foxglove Saga(1960)
• Path of Dalliance(1963)
• Who Are The Violets Now?(1965)
• Consider the Lilies(1968)
• A Bed of Flowers(1972).

He also wrote a book about theThorpe case,The Last Word,and a book aboutBiafra,Biafra: Britain's Shame,co-written with Suzanne Cronje. He made several programmes forATVin the 1970s.

In 1986, his critical bookAnother Voice – An Alternative Anatomy of Britain(ISBN0-947752-71-4) was published and was well received. From that year until his death he also edited theLiterary Reviewmagazine, where he organised awards for what he called "real" (rhyming and scanning) poetry, and also aBad Sex Awardfor the worst description of sex in a novel.

Two collections of Waugh'sPrivate Eyediary have been published:Four Crowded Years: The Diaries of Auberon Waugh 1972–1976(Deutsch/Private Eye, 1976), andA Turbulent Decade: The Diaries of Auberon Waugh 1976–1985(Private Eye, 1985).

In 1991, he was interviewed byAnthony Howardfor theThames TVdocumentaryWaugh Memorial.

Waugh opined on many and various topics. For example, in a leader piece for theLiterary Reviewin 1991 he commented uponscepticJames Randi's dismissal on British television of the supposed art ofdowsingfor water. Waugh noted that, although he had no great interest in the subject, he lived in a house which had a well sunk through 70 ft (21 m) of rock on nothing more than the advice of a dowser.

Death

Auberon Waugh's grave near theChurch of St Peter & St Paul, Combe Florey,Somerset

Waugh's health declined considerably throughout the final months of his life, and died from heart failure at Combe Florey House on 16 January 2001, at the age of 61.He is buried in the graveyard of theChurch of St Peter & St Paul, Combe Florey.

External links

• Auberon Waugh diesandAuberon Waugh: Biting wit,BBC News,17 January 2001
• Obituary,The Guardian,17 January 2001
• Obituary,The Daily Telegraph