The Duke and Duchess of Windsor are pictured above in 1937, after his abdication
When they were first published in 1967, the diaries of MP Sir Henry ‘Chips’ Channon enthralled and appalled the nation in equal measure.
Malicious and delicious, the diaries skewered some of the grandest names in society and politics.
What no one realised was that the diaries had been heavily censored. Now, they are being published for the first time in their full, outrageous glory.
American-born Chips, as he was known, settled in Britain after graduating from Oxford and became a social climber on a grand scale, becoming friendly with the future Edward VIII the then Prince of Wales in 1920.
Chips Channon’s uncensored diaries are addictive – and troubling
5/5
MP Chips Channon, photographed by Cecil Beaton
Credit: Sothebys
Nobody knows for certain why Henry Channon was called “Chips”. One theory is that as a young man he shared lodgings with a friend whose nickname was “Fish” – which is rather nice, as it’s hard to think of anyone less likely to have set foot in an ordinary fish and chip shop. For Chips Channon, the ultimate aristocrat manqué, was born with a reasonably sized silver spoon in his mouth, and thereafter worked hard on converting it into a soup tureen of solid gold.
26 February 2021 • 12:01am
A teacher gives a creative writing class at Roath Park primary school in Cardiff, Wales
Credit: Matthew Horwood /Getty
SIR – Mandatory wearing of masks after the end of lockdown must be rejected. Face masks are vile, dehumanising devices. Nothing better exemplifies a continued divergence from “normality”.
When the majority of the population has been vaccinated, including all the high risk groups, masks should no longer be compulsory.
John Wainwright
SIR – There should be clarity about the law, which must be obeyed, and what is guidance, which we may follow at our discretion (“Schools told they cannot force pupils to wear masks,” report, February 25). Currently even policemen are confused.
Chips Channon eating ice-cream with Tallulah Bankhead in 1926
Credit: Channon Family Archive
From the moment he came to Europe in late 1917 as a volunteer for the American Red Cross, based in Paris, Chips Channon had entrées to high society and through it to the cream of the literary and artistic world across the continent.
The bolded text in the following entries indicates information that has never been seen before and gives a flavour of the range and celebrity of the sort of people he knew.
However, one character, little known today, was the Anglican priest-turned-Roman Catholic Montague Summers, a man of letters who was also the translator into English of books on witch hunting and vampires, and as these extracts show, he and Channon had another, even more peculiar, interest in common. The extracts also give a flavour of how completely candid Channon was about himself and those he observed.
he cannot do wrong, really. Now he has assumed supreme control of his army.
All the hysterical anti-Germans in this country are up in arms. But surely internal changes are none of our business.
22 February
Winston Churchill rose and in a vicious biting speech defended Eden and attacked the govt. It was yet another bid
on the part of the old ruffian to lead an independent group, perhaps a centre party.
The attempt failed.
4 March
Winston Churchill has written a wicked article half-heartedly attacking Chamberlain. He is a devil and must never be trusted.
11 March
An unbelievable day in which two things occurred: I fell in love with the Prime Minister, and Hitler took Vienna.