British Worthies
Who's Who 1961. (Black, I30s.)
I must- not pretend to have read every word of this book, but I have devoted a happy morning to it—a longer time than most reviewers of fiction give to their material—and I can state with confidence that it will sustain the high reputation of its 112 predecessors. If a trend is discernible, it is one towards sobriety. Thirty years ago there were contributors who sought to amuse; few today. Sir Osbert Sitwell still adds admonition to autobiography and now 'advocates compulsory Freedom everywhere, the suppression of Public Opinion in the interest of Free Speech and the rationing of brains without which there can be no true democracy,' but most of those elected for inclusion are content to set out their claims to celebrity without adornment. Fewer,, it seems to me, apart from the Anglican clergy, admit to hobbies. It is remarkable, though scarcely credible, that a few men still claim 'motoring' as a 'recreation.'
Who's Who is an essential document for ADCs and attaches whose duty it is to scan official visitors' books. It is also an excellent work for casual perusal titillating curiosity on many points. Why is Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wyke- ham-Fiennes listed under F and Adm. the Hon. Sir R. A. R. Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax under P? How are the entrants chosen, particularly the foreigners? The book begins with a Finn and ends with a German. It is far from being exclusively British. What do the lesser breeds do to qualify? Sampling at random there seems to be an element of caprice in the selection.
It is said that there is keen competition to be admitted. Sometimes there may be an advantage in being there: Foreign hotel managers keep it handy; but against that must be set the appalling vulnerability to beggars and research students. It is significant that a great number of entrants give accommodation addresses of agents and banks.
It is interesting to observe how very few of the entrants, even those who owe their chief fame to it, admit to broadcasting. Mr. Betjeman does not, nor Lord Boothby, though both own up to their publications. Lord Kinross candidly admits his weakness. Mr. Ian Fleming, with commend- able modesty, does not even name his books. 'Various novels of suspense,' he is content to call them. Everyone who has respectable war service is explicit about it. Reticence is shown about wives. Some contributors name all, some only the most recent, some none at all. Who's Who is not as directly revealing as Burke, but there are discoveries to be made even here. Who would have guessed that Mr. Godfrey Winn, in the days when he was, as he himself describes it, 'star columnist' of the Daily Mirror and when all his domestic affairs seemed open to us, had all the time an elder brother who is now a Judge of the High Court, Queen's Bench? What English novelist has the orders of the White Lion (Czechoslovakia) and the Oaken Crown of Luxemburg? What is Marshal Zhukov's address? These are a few of the points of interest in this admirable volume.
EVELYN W A UGH
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