Did You Really Shoot the Television? (30 page)

I am profoundly grateful for the heritage I received from my parents. Each of their enthusiasms has brought pleasure into my own life: reporting, adventure, shooting, fishing and gardening, a commitment to books and newspapers. I feel not only the blood, but also
the tastes and passions, of past Hastingses and Scott-Jameses coursing through my own veins. I occasionally smoke Por Laranaga cigars, for no better reason than that they were the favoured brand of grandfather Basil, who died almost twenty years before I was born. Whenever I ride a horse among the great wild animals of Africa, as I have ridden so often and so happily in recent years, I think of Lewis. On the day I became editor of the
Daily Telegraph
and looked down from the window of my office upon Fleet Street, I reflected with deep emotion on the line of earlier Hastingses and Scott-Jameses who laboured and scribbled in its environs. I cannot today shoot a grouse or catch a salmon without recalling Father, and the pleasure it would have given him to see me living in reality a sporting life such as he was obliged to enjoy mostly in fantasy.

Some years ago, I made a modest donation to the Royal Literary Fund, which assists impoverished writers. The secretary, writing back to acknowledge this, told me that his records showed Basil Macdonald Hastings as a beneficiary of the Fund’s aid in 1927. I was moved to find myself, in a trifling and entirely accidental fashion, completing a circle. It delights me to have added twenty-odd titles to a collective family output of eighty-seven books in three generations, an achievement that may compensate in quantity for what it lacks in quality. None of us attained great wealth, nor forged a reputation that has survived, or is likely to, beyond a lifetime. Our nineteenth-century experience was dominated by disappointment, represented indeed a struggle to cling to a modest place in the professional middle class. In the twentieth century, however, all of us enjoyed our spells in the sun, and what pleasure these gave!

On 13 May 2009, just before Mother was anaesthetised for an operation after a fall, she held what proved the last conversation of her life with my sister Clare, who recorded her entirely characteristic remarks as she sat in a bed at Hampshire County Hospital looking out on a vista of roofing, scaffolding and workmen:

‘Don’t take the notebook, it has addresses I need in the back – tear it out. I love it here. I’ve had the most intelligent chat I’ve had in
weeks with the doctor about the hereafter. The nurses are so kind. They do their work and just chat around the bed, perfectly normally, not like the home, where they never smile, you know. I’m really looking forward to breakfast. Yesterday I had a nice soft roll – really fresh, not like those bits of toast you get in the home. I’d just like to move in here, but the view’s not lovely, is it? And it won’t get any better when they take that lot down. You remind me of that Chekhov line, dear –
The Cherry Orchard
, or was it
The Three Sisters
? – ‘You are all in black, are you in mourning for your life?’ The papers? Oh well, I just had to have them. I got the last from the trolley. Those dreadful MPs. I was asked once to sign a resident’s parking permit for a friend who lived out of town and came to London a couple of times a month and wanted one. I refused. Other friends said they would have done it, but I just couldn’t lie on a form. Would you have done it, dear? She never liked me much afterwards. I’m not a bit worried. I feel like it is all happening to somebody else. Any news? Well, you had better go now, dear. No point in coming for the next couple of days. They tell me I shall be in some pain, but they will be monitoring it, so I shan’t be worth seeing. Do keep in touch…

Her energy, spikiness, curiosity, persisted to the last. A few hours later, a month past her ninety-sixth birthday, she was dead.

The Hastingses’ little saga over the past couple of centuries has been as unsatisfactory as that of many families, marked by more divisions and feuds than beset most. Each of us has striven as best we could, much mindful of generations of the Tribe who went before. It is left to those who come afterwards to say whether we fared better or worse than we deserved. The adage that truth is the daughter of time is quite mistaken. Years do, however, assuage pain and teach us to thank our stars and our genes.

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Adler, Larry 144

Adventure Calling
(Macdonald Hastings) 141

Advertisement, The
(Basil Hastings) 40–1

Africa 2, 18, 32–8, 41–3, 62–6, 149, 171, 172–89, 210, 211, 215, 254, 257, 264

After You, Robinson Crusoe
(Macdonald Hastings) 2, 224, 234

Agate, James 50

Aldworth, Berkshire 88–90, 96, 103–4, 111–12, 120, 122, 136, 151–6, 162, 193, 208, 240, 247, 252

All Done from Memory
(Lancaster) 2

Ambler, Eric 116

America 1968: The Fire This Time
(Max Hastings) 246

Amoore, Derek 233

Andrews, Richard 204

Ardizzone, Edward 112–13, 115, 131

Armstrong, Anthony 139

Arnold House prep school, North Wales 89

Asprey, Eleanor 60

Atkinson, George 175, 176

Attenborough, Sir David 259

Ayrton, Michael 113

Bairnsfather, Bruce 41

Baldwin, James 232

Bale, Peter 259

Barrie, J.M. 50

Bates, H.E. 139

Baverstock, Donald 191, 192, 194, 233

BBC 44, 57, 60, 91, 95, 108, 127–8, 137, 191, 195, 197, 209, 232–3, 242–3, 251, 254, 259

Beaton, Cecil 84–5, 86

Beaverbrook, Max Aitken, 1st Baron 57, 58, 147, 148, 149, 198, 202

Beaverbrook Newspapers 198

Bechuanaland (modern Botswana) 36, 65, 172–89

Beddington, Roy 139

Beefsteak Club, London 143, 146, 241–2

Beerbohm, Max 39, 113, 235, 236

Belasco, David 56

Bell, Vanessa 84

Belloc, Hilaire 50, 259

Benn, Tony 170

Bennett, Arnold 53, 75

Berlin, Isaiah (Lord) 248

Berliner Illustrierte
86

Betjeman, Sir John 113, 139, 157–8, 239, 242, 247, 248, 249–50, 251, 261

Betjeman, Paul 158

Betjeman, Penelope 157–8

Bevan, Aneurin 170

Billington, Kevin 233

Blanch, Lesley 84, 94, 104, 116

Blücher, Prince Gebhard Leberecht 17, 18, 20

Blumenfield, Erwin 85–6

Boer War 13, 27, 34, 36

Bowra, Sir Maurice 248

Brain, Harvey 211, 212, 213, 215

Bremen
(ocean liner) 87

British Council 75

British Empire Society 34, 63

British Museum 254

British Sporting Guns
(Macdonald Hastings) 234

Brooks, Captain Arthur 76

Brown’s Farm, Old Basing 231, 232, 246, 247

Buchan, John 137, 179

Buchanan, Jack 59

Budberg, Baroness Moura 208

Butler, Samuel 26

Bystander
,
The
30, 39, 40

Café de Paris, London 94

Calder, Angus 94

Call the Gun Expert
(television documentary series) 233

Camrose, John Seymour Berry, 2nd Viscount 251

Cape Mounted Police 27, 32, 64

Caprice (restaurant), London 145

Carr, John Dickson 113

Casson, Sir Hugh 236

Catholic Herald
29

Cavendish, Lady Elizabeth 247

Certain Liveliness, A
(Basil Hastings) 50

Charterhouse school, 39, 194–5, 205, 227, 235

Chase, Edna Woolman 87

Cheshire Cheese (pub), London 149

Chesterton, G.K. 50

Cheyney, Peter 113

Christian Science Monitor
75, 78

Christiansen, Arthur 144, 234, 242

Churchill, Randolph 236

Churchill, Robert 69, 170, 205, 233

Churchill, Winston 54, 99, 107–8, 121, 150, 236, 248

Cochrane, C.B. 59

Codners (shoemakers) 144

Condé Nast 86, 87

Conrad, Joseph 50–2, 53

Cooper, Lady Diana 85

Cork and the Serpent
(Macdonald Hastings) 137

Cork in the Bottle
(Macdonald Hastings) 137, 138

Cork in the Doghouse
(Macdonald Hastings) 138

Cork in the Water
(Macdonald Hastings) 138

Cork on the Telly
(Macdonald Hastings) 232

Cork on the Water
(Macdonald Hastings) 137

Cottage Garden, The
(Anne Scott-James) 253

Country Fair
(magazine) 139, 140, 143, 150, 198

Craven, Eleanor (aunt) 77–8, 87

Cumberland Hotel, London 59–60

Cuneo, Terence 113

Currye, John 173, 176, 178–9, 181, 182, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190

Daily Chronicle
75

Daily Express
53, 144, 148, 199, 234, 237–8, 251

Daily Mail
73, 148, 192, 199, 200–1, 202, 203, 210, 224–5, 228, 229, 241, 251

Daily News
70

Daily Telegraph
4, 238, 264

Dalí, Salvador 85

Dane, Winifred Clemence 232

Davenport, Nicholas 113, 158

Davenport, Olga 158

David, Elizabeth 116–17, 133

Davidson, Basil 106

Day-Lewis, Cecil 111

de la Mare, Walter 70

Decline and Fall
(Waugh) 89

Desert Island Discs
1, 80, 207, 209, 237

Diary of a Nobody
(Grossmith) 9, 29

Dickens, Charles 10, 131, 149, 170

Dickson, Eileen 122

Douglas, Norman 74

Down to Earth
(Anne Scott-James) 252, 253

Dragons are Extra
(Lewis Hastings) 2

Drums of Memory, The
(Sir Stephen Hastings) 2

Duckworth, Sir Dyce 28

Duffy, Tom 18, 19, 20

Dufy, Raoul 84

Duncan, Patrick 37

Durst, Andre 85

Dyer, Marshall 213, 222–3

Eagle
141–3, 144, 172, 173, 184, 195, 197–8, 204, 209

Eagle Special Investigator
(Macdonald Hastings) 141

Eden, Anthony (Lord Avon) 150

Edwards, Anne 148

Elmer, Elsie 129, 169, 259

English, Sir David 192

Englishman in Ireland, An
(Rolfe Scott-James) 73

Evening Standard
41, 242, 243, 244, 246, 253

Express Group 198

Faithful Philanderer, The
(Basil Hastings) 53

Farrar, Sir George 37

Feetham, Richard 37

Ferrant, John 154

First World War 29, 34, 37, 41–6, 74, 75, 79, 107

Ford, Ford Madox 70–1

Forester, C.S. 61–2, 209–10

Forge, The, Upper Basildon, West Berkshire 87–8, 159

Fowler, John 88

Francis, Dick 232

Francis, Mary 232

Frink, Elisabeth 247

Gamebook
(Macdonald Hastings) 2

Garnett, Edward 71

Garrick Club, London 51, 248

Gary, Romain 104

George VI, King 68

Glimpse of Arcadia, A
(Macdonald Hastings) 198

Gluckstein, Montague 59, 61

Goddard, Baron Rayner 247

Goebbels, Josef 95

Gold, Jack 233

Gordon, Richard 232

Grade, Michael 243

Grant, Cy 192

Graves, Robert 113

Graves, Sally 81, 83, 94

Great War, The
(television documentary series) 44, 242–3

Greene, Graham 89, 113, 117, 240

Haggard, H. Rider 131

Hall, Robin 192

Handful of Dust, A
(Waugh) 131

Hanky-Panky John
(Basil Hastings) 53

Hardy, Bert 93

Hardy, Thomas 71–2, 149

Harper’s Bazaar
116–17, 119, 122, 133, 146

Harper’s Ferry, Virginia 8, 155

Harrods, London 82, 123, 129

Hart, Derek 192

Hastings, Ann (great-great-grandmother) 8

Hastings, Anthea (stepmother) 230–1, 232, 247, 259–60

Hastings, Aubrey (great-uncle) 11, 12, 18, 29, 44–6

Hastings, Basil (grandfather) 160, 264;

appearance 46, 57;

books 2, 9, 53, 265
see also under individual book title
;

childhood 9, 11–14, 16, 18–23;

death 57;

finances 41, 54–5, 57, 58, 62;

First World War 46–7;

journalism 28–9, 31, 39, 53–4, 60;

King’s College, London 28;

Macdonald Hastings and 60, 61, 143, 260;

marriage 30–2, 58;

name 39;

novel 53;

plays 39–41, 47, 50–6, 265–6;

religion 29, 30;

revues 41;

Savage Club 54, 56;

school 23–8, 39;

War Office clerk 28–30, 46

Hastings, Beryl (aunt) 32, 55, 56, 58, 60, 62, 94, 159–60, 223, 228

Hastings, Beryl (great-aunt) 11, 16, 29

Hastings, Billie (grandmother) 30, 31–2, 43, 55, 57, 60, 62, 159–60, 210

Hastings, Clare (sister) 134, 136, 146, 151, 154, 155, 160–9, 194, 203–4, 228, 239, 240, 241, 258, 260, 261, 262, 264

Hastings, Claude (great-uncle) 11, 12, 21, 29

Hastings, Douglas Macdonald (‘Mac’) (father): in Africa 171–90;

alcohol and 60, 194, 213, 220, 226–8, 231, 233;

Anne Scott-James, marriage to 110–36, 139–47, 149–50, 152–71, 198, 203–5, 207–8, 210–11, 220, 223, 226–30;

Anthea Joseph, marries 230–2, 254, 259–60;

appearance 128, 144;

BBC 60, 127–8, 191–7, 209, 232–3, 259;

birth 31–2; books 137–9, 143, 198, 254, 266–7;

childhood 47–50, 57;

Country Fair
139–40, 143, 198;

death 259–61;

divorce 226–9;

Eagle
140–4, 172, 173, 197–8, 209;

eccentricities 110, 194, 260;

fame 143;

father’s reputation and 60–1;

finances 60, 67, 137, 139–40, 143, 145–6, 150–1, 195–6, 197, 198, 209, 223–4, 233–4;

first marriage 60;

health 217–23;

journalism 60–1, 68–9, 91–2, 96, 104–5, 108–9, 140;

Lewis Hastings and 38, 61,
63, 66, 97, 149, 257–8;

Lyons 58–60, 61;

Max Hastings and 118–21, 126–8, 145–6, 161–2, 170–1, 196–7, 205, 208, 227–9, 245–7, 254–6; Mr Cork stories 137–9, 143, 233
see also under individual story title
;

name 39;

Picture Post
68–9, 91–2, 112, 139, 191, 192, 209, 259;

politics 149, 254;

Radio Normandy 60;

reading 149;

religion, rejection of 48, 59;

Ressource Island, time on 209–25;

Ruth Pallant and 67–8;

Savage Club and 127, 143;

school 47–50, 57;

Second World War 91–4, 96, 97, 104–5, 108–9;

shooting and fishing 67, 68, 127, 128, 144–5, 157, 161–2, 174, 176, 177, 188, 192, 198, 205–6, 208, 216, 253–6, 263;

social circle 157–9;

The Strand
112–15, 137, 139;

Thursday Club 143–4;

Tonight
191–7, 232–3

Hastings, Edward (great-grandfather) 8–13, 15–17, 20, 21, 23–9, 31, 53, 75, 78

Hastings, Elizabeth (great-grandmother) 9, 11, 15, 16, 28, 31, 57

Hastings, Emily (great-aunt) 29, 32

Hastings, Ethel (great-aunt) 9, 13, 15, 24, 28

Hastings, Eulalia (great-aunt) 14

Hastings, Gladys (great-aunt) 14, 16, 24, 32

Hastings, Harriet (half-sister) 4, 230, 260

Hastings, Hugh (great-great-grandfather) 8, 32, 119

Hastings, James (ancestor) 8

Hastings, Lewis (great-uncle) 189, 190, 260, 264;

in Africa 27, 28, 32–8, 41–4, 62–7, 149, 171–3, 177, 257;

aviation 35–6;

birth 9;

books 2, 266;

Cape Mounted Police 27, 32, 64;

childhood 11, 12, 14, 18, 21–3, 26;

death 257;

Empire Society and 63;

finances 62, 64;

First World War 41–4;

in Germany 64;

homosexual relationship at school, accused of 27, 28;

hunter 27, 34–6, 64–6;

journalism 37;

literary gifts 38;

Macdonald Hastings and 38, 61, 63, 66, 97, 149, 257–8;

marriage 61–2;

Military Cross 43, 97, 170;

politics 34, 37–8, 63, 149;

school 27, 28;

Second World War 95, 97, 107–8, 123;

Stephen Hastings and 62, 64, 97, 160–1, 257, 258;

verse 32–3

Hastings, Marigold (great-aunt) 61–2, 160, 257

Hastings, Max: in America 244, 245;

birth 117–19;

books 267–8;

Brown’s Farm, Old Basing 231;

childhood 1, 122–36, 152–71, 206–8, 227, 242, 247, 263;

christening 122;

Desert Island Discs
1, 209;

divorce of parents and 226–8;

Evening Standard
243, 244, 246;

father and 118–21, 126–8, 145–6, 161–2, 170–1, 196–7, 205, 208, 227–9, 245–7, 254–6;

Great War
series, researcher on 242–3;

inheritance of family traits 263–4;

John Betjeman and 249–50;

Lyons, job at 227;

mother, relationship with 117, 122, 129, 132–6, 146, 156–7, 167–9, 205, 207–8, 239–40, 241–2;

Nanny and 124–6, 129, 132, 135, 146–7, 154, 162, 163, 167, 169, 170, 203–4, 207, 226, 258–9;

Oxford 243; schooldays 4, 132–6, 145–6, 155, 163–4, 170–1, 204–5, 227;

shooting and fishing 161–2, 206–7;

shoots television 1, 207–8;

24 Hours
196–7, 254

Hastings, Muriel (great-aunt) 11, 12, 14, 29

Hastings, Penny (wife) 163, 243, 262

Hastings, Sir Stephen (cousin): ancestry 7, 161;

books 2, 266;

father and 62, 64, 97, 160–1, 257, 258;

Macdonald Hastings and 230, 258;

marriage 7;

politics 161, 257;

in SAS 97–102;

Second World War 97–102, 105–7, 123;

in Secret Intelligence Service 161;

in SOE 105–7

Hated Society, The
(Macdonald Hastings television documentary) 233

Hawtrey, Sir Charles 47

Heath, Edward 199

Henty, G.A. 25, 27, 131

Herm, Channel Islands 16–20, 23–4

Hewitt, Slim 192

Heyerdahl, Thor 127

Hitler, Adolf 64, 80, 107

Hodder (prep school) 16, 23–5, 47–8

Hodson, Charles (Lord) 247

Holland, Merlin 132

Hopkinson, Tom 92, 104, 259

Horris Hill school 145, 204, 205

House & Garden
86

House of Tongue 255–6

Housman, A.E. 75

Howard, Professor Sir Michael 247, 250, 263