LETTERS Quennell and Clio
Sir: May I, belatedly, add an historical detail to your excellent portrait of Peter Quennell (Survivors, 9 March)? In the late 1950s I sent off — for the untold time — a lovingly worked but lengthy essay on a somewhat remote historical subject to a new magazine called History Today. In due course there came back not the glumly expected printed 'Editor regrets', nor even the scarcely-to-be-hoped-for typewritten letter from the editor's secretary. Instead, a handwritten letter from Peter Quennell in exquisite copperplate, saying in effect 'Liked your article, but. . .' and detailing changes which would make it publishable. Which I did and they did. (And paid 20 quid which is — what? — £200 today, I suppose.) This precedent, whereby a distinguished editor guided a totally unknown would-be writer into publishable channels, continued over the following years. On more than one occasion a courteous suggestion from either Peter Quennell or his co-editor Alan Hodge turned academically accurate but dully presented fact into acceptable prose which eventually attracted the attention of publishers. Discussing the History Today phenomenon with one of these publishers, we came to the conclusion that, during the Sixties and Seventies, the magazine made a quite incalculable contribution to that his- tory boom which is currently the mainstay of probably the majority of our publishers, as well as filling quite a bit of television time. The remarkable Quennell/Hodge partnership not only brought Clio out of the study and into the marketplace, but also persuaded her to change her musty gown for a Dior dress. She proved to have quite a figure.
Russell Chamberlin
3 Harvey Gardens, Addison Road, Guildford, Surrey
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