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Round the clock
kids book
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
About the author
James Lees-Milne
80 books20 followersJames Lees-Milne (1908-1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses.
Biography
He was a noted biographer and historian, and is also considered one of the twentieth century's great diarists. He came from a family of landed gentry and grew up in Worcestershire. He attended Lockers Park Prep School, Eton and Oxford University. In 1936 he was appointed secretary of the Country House Committee of the National Trust, and he held that position until 1950 apart from a period of military service from 1939-1941. He was instrumental in the first large scale transfer of country houses from private ownership to the Trust. After resigning his full-time position in 1950 he continued his connection with the National Trust as a part time architectural consultant.
He resided on the Badminton Estate in Gloucestershire for most of his later years while working in William Thomas Beckford's library at Lansdown Crescent at Bath. He was a friend of many of the most prominent British intellectual and social figures of his day, including Nancy Mitford, Harold Nicolson (about whom he wrote a two-volume biography), and Cyril Connolly. He married Alvilde Chaplin, formerly Bridges, a prominent gardening and landscape expert, in 1951.
From 1947 Lees-Milne published a series of architectural works aimed primarily at the general reader. He was also a diarist, and his diaries were published in many volumes and were well received, in later years attracting a cult following. His other works included several biographies and an autobiographical novel.
Biography
He was a noted biographer and historian, and is also considered one of the twentieth century's great diarists. He came from a family of landed gentry and grew up in Worcestershire. He attended Lockers Park Prep School, Eton and Oxford University. In 1936 he was appointed secretary of the Country House Committee of the National Trust, and he held that position until 1950 apart from a period of military service from 1939-1941. He was instrumental in the first large scale transfer of country houses from private ownership to the Trust. After resigning his full-time position in 1950 he continued his connection with the National Trust as a part time architectural consultant.
He resided on the Badminton Estate in Gloucestershire for most of his later years while working in William Thomas Beckford's library at Lansdown Crescent at Bath. He was a friend of many of the most prominent British intellectual and social figures of his day, including Nancy Mitford, Harold Nicolson (about whom he wrote a two-volume biography), and Cyril Connolly. He married Alvilde Chaplin, formerly Bridges, a prominent gardening and landscape expert, in 1951.
From 1947 Lees-Milne published a series of architectural works aimed primarily at the general reader. He was also a diarist, and his diaries were published in many volumes and were well received, in later years attracting a cult following. His other works included several biographies and an autobiographical novel.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 22, 2024
James Lees-Milne (1908-1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses, who worked for the British National Trust from 1936 to 1973. He was an architectural historian, novelist and biographer. He is best known for his diaries...he wrote 12 volumes of them. He describes things that happened to him on any given day, he describes his thoughts and feelings about people, places, and events, all told in a style that is hard to beat. From Wikipedia: ¨His witty, waspish and extensive diaries appeared in twelve volumes and were well received. Larry McMurtry commented that Lees-Milne, like Samuel Pepys and James Boswell, was disarmingly open about his failings – indeed, would not have known how to go about hiding them. Nicholas Birns notes that Lees-Milne spoke "so candidly about himself, his life, and his love of art and architecture that his authorial relationship with the reader becomes a privileged one, not to be readily or casually communicated, not to be flaunted or brandished."
I read all of them and overall really enjoyed them. It took well over a year for me to read all of them, but I did not mind at all. I liked reading them so much I started in again with the first volume when I was finished with the last volume. Anyhoo, Lees-Milne also tried his hand at writing fiction – I think his most well-accepted novel was ‘My Self’ which to me (and most others who read the book) seemed to be a semi-memoir/autobiography although in his diaries he claimed that it was not.
I read this work of fiction of his yesterday and at first was not enthused at all, but by book’s end I thought it was a good read. 3 stars for sure.
I thought the premise was clever. The book was broken up into eight 3-hour blocks of time over the course of one day (i.e., 8 X 3 = 24). And each 3-hour blook featured a different character in the family. And each of those characters very much liked another member of the family while at the same time disliking another member of the family. So in a way it was one big happy/unhappy family but ultimately unhappiness reigned.
• Nero a whippet (whippets are dogs) liked Jasper, a teenager, So we have come full circle.
Reviews: I could not find any. 🙁
I read all of them and overall really enjoyed them. It took well over a year for me to read all of them, but I did not mind at all. I liked reading them so much I started in again with the first volume when I was finished with the last volume. Anyhoo, Lees-Milne also tried his hand at writing fiction – I think his most well-accepted novel was ‘My Self’ which to me (and most others who read the book) seemed to be a semi-memoir/autobiography although in his diaries he claimed that it was not.
I read this work of fiction of his yesterday and at first was not enthused at all, but by book’s end I thought it was a good read. 3 stars for sure.
I thought the premise was clever. The book was broken up into eight 3-hour blocks of time over the course of one day (i.e., 8 X 3 = 24). And each 3-hour blook featured a different character in the family. And each of those characters very much liked another member of the family while at the same time disliking another member of the family. So in a way it was one big happy/unhappy family but ultimately unhappiness reigned.
• Nero a whippet (whippets are dogs) liked Jasper, a teenager, So we have come full circle.
Reviews: I could not find any. 🙁
Displaying 1 of 1 review