Scenes and Apparitions: The Roy Strong Diaries 1988–2003

by Roy Strong

'Viper wit from the gardener, writer and Knight of exquisite taste' DAILY TELEGRAPH
'Funny, barbed and moving ... magnificently readable' THE TIMES

Scenes and Apparitions covers a period of Roy Strong's life from 1988 to 2003. A sequel to Splendours and Miseries, it is an unmissable record of how a citizen at the close of the second Elizabethan age observed and chronicled his own world at the turn of the century. Although it is not without tragedy - the murder of his friend Gianni Versace, and the death of his beloved wife Julia Trevelyan Oman - there is plenty to enjoy from his descriptions of Elton John's fiftieth birthday party, to a concert for the Queen Mother, and his portraits of marriage, friendship, work and his celebrated garden, The Laskett.

560 pages, Paperback

Published December 26, 2017

About the author

Sir Roy Colin Strong FRSL (23 August 1935 - ) is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer.

He has been director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He was knighted in 1983.

Reviews

[Stephen Hartland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roy Strong's Scenes and Apparitions is a richly rewarding continuation of the story begun in Splendours and Miseries. Covering the years 1988 to 2003, it charts his reinvention after leaving public life and the cultural establishment that had defined much of his career. Freed from institutional responsibilities but facing financial uncertainty, Strong turns his formidable energies towards writing, gardening, broadcasting and reflection.

These diaries are not a day by day chronicle but a series of vivid sketches, observations and character studies, capturing the texture of late twentieth century and early twenty first century Britain. Strong's eye for detail, his wit, occasional sharpness and deep sense of history make the book compelling throughout. It is both a personal memoir and a valuable social document, offering an insightful account of the closing years of the second Elizabethan age through the eyes of one of Britain's most distinctive cultural figures. An absorbing and often elegant volume that will delight admirers of Strong's work.

I always enjoy his writings.

[Jeff Howells · Rating 3 out of 5]

A belated follow up to his first volume of diaries which came out in the 90s. This volume picks up after he has left the V&A and to all intent and purpose was retired. Inevitably then this volume isn’t as interesting as its predecessor. Much of it is taken up with writing about gardening and his forays into writing books. There are still the odd dinner parties with the great & the good but this time he is clearly on the periphery of the Arts world & not at its centre. There’s a lot to like here and the volume ends poignantly with the illness & death of his beloved wife, but having waiting so long for a second volume this is a slight let down.