Twenty-five: An Autobiography

by Beverley Nichols

This book contains the first of six autobiographies written by the prolific writer Beverly Nichols. As the title suggests, Nichols wrote this work at the venturesome age of twenty-five, and it is therefore a refreshing and unusual read, and highly recommended for the inclusion on the bookshelf of any fan of his work.

Genres: Biography, Memoir

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

John Beverley Nichols (born September 9, 1898 in Bower Ashton, Bristol, died September 15, 1983 in Kingston, London), was an English writer, playwright, actor, novelist and composer. He went to school at Marlborough College, and went to Balliol College, Oxford University, and was President of the Oxford Union and editor of Isis.

Between his first novel, Prelude, published in 1920, and Twilight in 1982, he wrote more than 60 books and plays on topics such as travel, politics, religion, cats, novels, mysteries, and children's stories, authoring six novels, five detective mysteries, four children's stories, six plays, and no fewer than six autobiographies.

Nichols is perhaps best remembered as a writer for Woman's Own and for his gardening books, the first of which Down the Garden Path, was illustrated — as were many of his books — by Rex Whistler. This bestseller — which has had 32 editions and has been in print almost continuously since 1932 — was the first of his trilogy about Allways, his Tudor thatched cottage in Glatton, Cambridgeshire. A later trilogy written between 1951 and 1956 documents his travails renovating Merry Hall (Meadowstream), a Georgian manor house in Agates Lane, Ashtead, Surrey, where Nichols lived from 1946 to 1956. These books often feature his gifted but laconic gardener "Oldfield". Nichols's final trilogy is referred to as "The Sudbrook Trilogy" (1963–1969) and concerns his late 18th-century attached cottage at Ham, (near Richmond), Surrey.

Nichols was a prolific author who wrote on a wide range of topics. He ghostwrote Dame Nellie Melba’s "autobiography" Memories and Melodies (1925), and in 1966 he wrote A Case of Human Bondage about the marriage and divorce of William Somerset Maugham and Gwendoline Maud Syrie Barnardo, which was highly critical of Maugham. Father Figure, which appeared in 1972 and in which he described how he had tried to murder his alcoholic and abusive father, caused a great uproar and several people asked for his prosecution. His autobiographies usually feature Arthur R. Gaskin who was Nichols’ manservant from 1924 until Gaskin's death from cirrhosis in 1966. Nichols made one appearance on film - in 1931 he appeared in Glamour, directed by Seymour Hicks and Harry Hughes, playing the part of the Hon. Richard Wells.

Nichols' long-term partner was Cyril Butcher. He died in 1983 from complications after a fall.

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t got much argument to make with the selection of the first 10 penguins - with the exception of Gone to Earth: if you’re going to pick Mary Webb for goodness sake pick Precious Bane.

There are some hidden gems in here, or should I say forgotten gems. Notably poets pub by Eric Linklater, Madame Claire by Susan Ertz and Twenty Five by Beverley Nichols.

This latter one I have just finished. I would say it was less than I have just read it, and more that I have just spent time in the company of Beverley Nichols. And a joyous time it was.

Covering everything from crime reporting, to opera and theatre, politics and history as it happens, highs and lows, serious and flippant writing. This was a readers delight. Possibly entirely forgettable, but I loved every moment I was in it.

[David]

Lots of humourous examination of Britain and British culture up to about 1925. Nichols is wonderfully confident in tone and often quite funny. It makes for an interesting comparison to the earliest stages of Dance to the Music of Time and/or Powell's & Waugh's memoirs.

[Tallulah Bankhead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Utterly charming :)

[Squeak2017 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lightweight but enjoyable. Elizabeth Von Arnim’s journal records that she was not pleased at being shoehorned into this impudent youngster’s book since they had not met!

[Peer]

show of of a young man who wants to tell the world of all the famous people he met. not even a star worth...

[Stig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read this book some 35 or 40 years ago, and all I remember about it was that I liked it and that Nichols told of his participation in the Locarno conference in 1925. Now that I have read it again, I find no trace whatsoever of the Locarno story - wherever did that come from, I wonder? - and I'm not quite sure how much I like it.

Oh, sure, it is an entertaining book, and it does require a certain amount of self-confidence to write an autobiography at the age of twenty-five. Nichols moved in fairly exalted circles and was friends with or at least met many of the greats of his day - Churchill, H.G. Wells, Somerset Maugham, Melba, Valentino, to mention a few - and he has amusing stories to tell about them, but the book feels more like a collection of articles or essays than a proper autobiography. Of course, Nichols made up for this by writing another five autobiographies in later years.

So the verdict will have to be sparkling, but ultimately slight. I'll have to give his garden books a try, though.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

No one should write a biography when they have barely lived. The author knew this. This is more a collection of travels and name-dropping stories that the author knew he would look back on and cringe when he was older, wiser, and less arrogantly opinionated.
Names mentioned include Noel Coward, Dame Nellie Melba, Greek royalty, American presidents, Winston Churchill (war minister at the time), artist Norman Lindsay, Rudolph Valentino, William Somerset Maugham, G.K. Chesterton, W.B. Yeats and John Masefield. Being written in the period immediately after the first world war and before the great depression, it might be more meaningful to an older audience than myself.
It would have been enjoyable as armchair time travel if there was a smoother transition between chapters. As it was, I did get to see how someone living at the time viewed events that we can now look back on with hindsight.
Being disjointed, it unfortunately reads like a collection of unrelated opinion articles.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the book that put Nichols on the map - who but he has the temerity to write his autobiography at 25?
He only got better as he continued to write.

[Peer · Rating 1 out of 5]

A not very convincing potpourri of recollections and anecdotes of femous people around the 1920's. Sometimes I suspect boasting, most of the time its out of date.