Author, publisher, traveller, cricketer, lover of wine: Alec Waugh has been all these in the course of a life which has brought him a host of friends around the world. He is a warm person who knows a good friend when he sees one and is revered by all those with whom there has been mutual acceptance. This book contains his memories of many famous writers and some figures no longer so well remembered in the period between the wars. The section which will, no doubt, command the most attention is that devoted to the youth of his younger brother Evelyn. This throws invaluable light on the early years of a great but difficult man and reveals an insight which only one so close as a brother could have.
Author
Born Alexander Raban Waugh to Arthur Waugh, author, literary critic, and publisher. He was the elder brother of the better-known Evelyn Waugh. His third wife was Virginia Sorenson, author of the Newbery Medal-winning Miracles on Maple Hill. Waugh was educated at Sherborne School, a public school in Dorset, from where he was expelled. The result of his experiences was his first, semi-autobiographical novel, The Loom of Youth (1917), clearly inspired by The Harrovians (1931) by Arnold Lunn, and so controversial at the time (it openly mentioned homosexual activities between boys) that Waugh remains the only former pupil to be expelled from the old boys society (The Old Shirburnian Society). It was also a best seller. Waugh went on to a career as a successful author, although never as successful or innovative as his younger brother. He lived much of his life overseas, in exotic places such as Tangier - a lifestyle made possible by his second marriage, to a rich Australian. His 1957 novel Island in the Sun was a best-seller, as was his 1973 novel, A Fatal Gift. He also published In Praise of Wine & Certain Noble Spirits (1959), an amusing and discursive guide to the major wine types, and Wines and Spirits, a 1968 book in the Time-Life series Foods of the World. Waugh is said to have invented the cocktail party when active in the 1920s London social life and served rum swizzles to astonished friends who thought they had come for tea. Within eighteen months, early evening drinks had become a widespread social entertainment. Waugh also has a footnote in the history of reggae music. The success of the film adaptation of Island in the Sun and the Harry Belafonte title track provided inspiration as well as the name for the highly successful Island Records record label. (Wikipedia)
