Henry âChipsâ Channon review â the celebrated diaries, unredacted
Sex, scandal, kinks and queens ⦠edited by Simon Heffer, these interwar diaries by the Tory MP are a masterpiece of storytelling and character assassination
Wallis Simpson . âA good kindly woman who has had an excellent influence on the young monarch.â Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy
Wallis Simpson . âA good kindly woman who has had an excellent influence on the young monarch.â Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy
Sat 13 Mar 2021 02.30 EST
âWhat is more dull than a discreet diary? One might as well have a dull soul,â wrote Henry âChipsâ Channon in his journal for 25 July 1935. The question was rhetorical at this point, but itâs clear that he already had his future readers in mind. Channon knew he was as good as Pepys, and he had an inkling that it was his diary â rather than his not-very-good novels and his not-very-stellar Westm