Mr. Beckles Willson arrived in London at the age of
twenty- two, an ambitious young Canadian, determined to conquer Fleet Street. The year was 1892: " I had burst into a London gorged with literary novelties : Kipling, Marie Corelli, Sarah Grand, Zangwill, Oscar Wilde, the Yellow Book." However, he met the late Lord Northcliffe (of whom there is an attractive and Napoleonic portrait as a young man) and went with him to Southsea, where Northcliffe was standing for Parliament, to write a serial story called the Siege of Portsmouth, designed to sway the electors. Then the Daily Mail was founded, Mr. Willson toured Canada for
that newspaper, Then came the War and collaboration with Mr. Max Aitken in the Canadian Record Office, which gives us some frank and illuminating criticisms of Lord Beaverbrook's methods and energy. Altogether, From Quebec to Piccadilly (Cape. 7s. 6d.) is a very interesting book : neither more nor less. Mr. Beckles Willson says that he always feels more at home in the society of elderly people : there is something a trifle too sophisticated about his outlook : he has seen and done notable things, but never with the buoyant enthusiasm that transfigures life.
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