Beneath a Waning Moon: Diaries, 1985-1987

James Lees-Milne Complete Diaries

by James Lees-Milne, Michael Bloch

James Lees-Milne has been described as 'the finest, frankest and funniest diarist of the twentieth century'; and his sharpness and wit are undiminished in this, the tenth volume of the series. In his late seventies, he continues to savour new experiences, including his first visit to America and his first flight in a helicopter. As always, he captures the flavour of the age, ruefully observing how the vulgar prosperity of the mid-Thatcher years has transformed Cotswold manor houses into weekend retreats for the London rich with their cocktail bars. As candid as ever, he confesses to a pang of disappointment when Bruce Chatwin, one of several friends to have developed AIDS, makes a temporary recovery.
Like its predecessors, this volume is a treasure-trove of gossip and anecdote. The Queen is 'rather shocked' by the unconventional sex life of Lord Esher, the favourite courtier of her great-grandfather Edward VII and subject of Lees-Milne's latest biography. Elsewhere, we learn that the flamboyantly heterosexual King Edward himself once seduced a nephew. The Prince of Wales feels the mantle of John Betjeman has fallen on his shoulders, Diana Mosley explains why Macmillan rather than Ribbentrop should have been hanged after the war, Mick Jagger displays an extensive knowledge of Shakespeare, and Alan Clark admits he is bored stiff by his life in politics.

Genres: Biography, British Literature

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

James 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.

Reviews

[Highlandtown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar to other volumes of his diaries. Blunt, niggling assessments of politics and acquaintances’ looks and minds. He is in his late 70’s. Social visits continue non-stop and appear on every page. His diaries were mentioned by Alan Bennett so I read “Milk of Paradise” and then had to buy all the other diaries second hand. No luck finding any in libraries. I seem to need to read them all. Interesting but not attractive stories of an unfamiliar society.

[Alan King · Rating 1 out of 5]

Snippets of gossip about the lives of the British aristocracy. Lees-Milne seems to have met everybody in Debrett's Peerage. I read about him when he was mentioned in an interview with Larry McMurtry who was just finishing the 12th instalment of the diaries. LM is a very good writer so one would think he'd have good taste. It turns out Lees-Milne was a doddering, vicious, fascist-sympathizing snob whose closest friend was Deborah Mitford, wife of Oswald Mosley. The former head of the National Trust, he lived in a bubble of privileged isolation. The world outside his class was beyond his sympathy or understanding.

[GeraniumCat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it - endless gossip about the upper classes and their houses (and dogs...), snobbish and opinionated, but J L-M was a member and product of an antiquated class system. When he gets onto the subject he knows most about, houses, he's fascinating. I'd like to go back to some of the early diaries, written before he got old and a bit querulous, but the library doesn't have them - most frustrating.

[MargCal · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Beneath a Waning Moon, Diaries 1985-1987" by James Lees-Milne (read June 2013)
Umpteen volumes down (or so it seems), two volumes to go. Interesting social history from a man deeply involved with the (UK) National Trust.

[JimZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 10th volume of James Lees-Milnes diaries I have read. I wonder if I will get some sort of prize or recognition from Goodreads for doing so. 🤨 🧐 🤓 No? okay......

Somehow I find myself at the end of each of his books taking copious notes. There are just interesting tidbits or funny things that grab my attention. As I have said several times before in my other reviews of his diaries, I read his diaries about 3 or 4 times a week for about 20 minutes each time. I think that is why I take so many notes...because each and every time, I come to him refreshed and looking forward to reading him. As opposed to if I read his diaries for several hours at a time...I might find them to be less interesting. 😐 😑

This volume is as good as the others. Just some randoms things from my 11 pages of notes:
• He describes people sometimes in the most godawful ways...certainly paints a picture of what somebody looks like (at least to him): ‘...old...he was very dirty and I suppose has difficulty washing himself. Nails as long as talons.’....’Deeply furrowed face like a ploughed field... An enormous nose like a spout of a teapot.’
• His wife, Alvilde, is an expert on gardening and all sorts of people ask her about gardening and she ended up going to a mansion that Mick Jagger owned and designed a garden for him (and supervised the development of it). James Lees-Milne describes Jagger as having a pugnacious chin and ugly mouth.
• Lees-Milne uses words that go over my head every now and then and sometimes I ignore the word but sometimes I look it up, as when I came across ‘portmanteau’. It means ‘a word blending the sounds and combining the meaning of 2 others as in ‘brunch’, ‘podcast’, and motel (motor and hotel)’. And here’s another: ‘obduracy’ which means ‘refuses to change one’s mind or of being difficult to deal with change’.
• He typically had two dogs and he would take them for walks. He would go on 8-mile walks with them. I’m impressed with him and the dogs. He was about 78 at the time.
• He is in a church the day before he is supposed to give a eulogy to his friend who had just died, and he is rehearsing it, reading it out loud. “...A man, hitherto invisible to me, looks at me as if I am a lunatic and walks out (of the church).” When I read that I laughed out loud.... I could just picture the scene.
• I found out I resemble him in at least one way. He likes bitter chocolate. So do I! I eat 2 squares (1 inch by 1 inch) of unsweetened chocolate (100% cacao) a day.... He says: ‘I have just discovered a delicious bitter chocolate in slabs, obtainable at chemists. It is low in sugar, so won’t make me fat. As good as any chocolate I have ever eaten.’ Ha! 🙂 🙃 😉
• He told his wife after a boring luncheon that ‘...had I been younger I would certainly sniff cocaine or take heroin to get me through such occasions as this luncheon...’
• He has bad eyes. He took off his glasses and looked at the moon and saw 10 moons, and realizes that now he doesn’t have dual vision, he has decimal vision.

Reviews:
• https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...
• I saw the opening paragraphs of the review but I would have to subscribe to the periodical to read more (I used to subscribe to this periodical...it is good): https://literaryreview.co.uk/grandees...

Thumbnail biography of James Lees-Milne: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_L...

[Katelyn Ninness · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really lovely fly on the wall experience. Gives a nice little window into someone else’s life. Modest and entertaining writing