Henry Channon
Encyclopedia
Sir Henry "Chips" Channon (7 March 1897 – 7 October 1958) was an American-born British Conservative
politician, author and diarist. Channon moved to England in 1920 and became strongly anti-American, feeling that American cultural and economic views threatened traditional European and British civilisation. He wrote extensively about these views. Channon quickly became enamoured of London society and became a social and political climber.
Channon was first elected as a Member of Parliament
(MP) in 1935. In his political career he failed to achieve ministerial office and was unsuccessful in his pursuit of a peerage, but he is remembered as one of the most famous political and social diarists of the twentieth century. His diaries have so far been published only in an expurgated edition.
to an Anglo-American family. In adult life he took to giving 1899 as his year of birth, and was embarrassed when a British newspaper revealed that the true year was 1897. His grandfather had emigrated to the U.S. in the mid-nineteenth century and established a profitable fleet of vessels on the Great Lakes
, which formed the basis of the family's wealth. Channon's paternal grandmother was descended from eighteenth century English settlers. Channon's parents were Vesta née Westover and Henry Channon II, known as Harry. After private education in America, Channon travelled to France with the American Red Cross
in October 1917 and became an honorary attaché at the American embassy in Paris the next year.
In 1920 and 1921, Channon was at Christ Church, Oxford
where he obtained a pass degree in French, and acquired the nickname "Chips". He began a lifelong friendship with Prince Paul of Yugoslavia
, whom in his diaries he called "the person I have loved most. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography said of this phase of Channon's life, "adoring London society, privilege, rank, and wealth, he became an energetic, implacable, but endearing social climber." He also became an author.
Channon's anti-Americanism did not prevent his living off American money. A grant of $90,000 from his father, and an $85,000 inheritance from his grandfather made him financially comfortable with no need to work. He wrote two more books: a second novel, Paradise City (1931) about the disastrous effects of American capitalism, and a non-fiction work, The Ludwigs of Bavaria (1933). The latter, a study of the last generations of the ruling Wittelsbach dynasty of Bavaria
n kings, received excellent notices, and was in print twenty years later. Some critical reservations reflected Channon's adulation of minor European royalty: The Manchester Guardian said of his account of the 1918 revolution, "he seems to have depended almost exclusively on aristocratic sources, which are most clearly insufficient." Despite this, the book was described on its reissue in 1952 as "a fascinating study ... excellently written". Reviews of both the 1933 edition and the reissue singled out a section on architecture and décor, Channon's expertise in which took a practical form shortly after the publication of the book when he had first a large town house and then a country house in which to engage his passion for design.
. In 1935 their only child was born, a son, whom they named Paul. In the same year the Channons moved into a grand London house at 5 Belgrave Square
, next door to the London house of the Duke of Kent
, and two years later also acquired a country estate at Kelvedon Hatch
, near Brentwood
in Essex
. Channon quickly established himself as a society host, in his famous blue and silver dining room designed by Stéphane Boudin
and modelled on the Amalienburg
. Perhaps the apogee of his career in that role came on Thursday, 19 November 1936, with a guest list headed by Edward VIII
, Prince Paul of Yugoslavia
, then Regent and his wife Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark
, the Duke of Kent
and his wife Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark and Mrs Simpson, of whom Channon was a friend and admirer. Twenty-two days later, on 11 December, Edward abdicated
.
Channon, who was a naturalised British citizen, became a Conservative politician. At the 1935 general election
, he was elected Member of Parliament
for Southend
, the seat previously held by his mother-in-law Gwendolen Guinness, Countess of Iveagh
. After boundary changes in 1950, he was returned for the new Southend West constituency
, holding the seat until his death in 1958.
In 1936, the rising Conservative minister R A Butler
(universally known as "Rab"), Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
at the Foreign Office
appointed Channon his Parliamentary Private Secretary
. Butler was associated with the appeasement
wing of the Conservative party, and Channon, as with the abdication, found himself on the losing side. In the words of the ODNB: "Always ferociously anti-communist, he was an early dupe of the Nazis because his attractive German princelings hoped that Hitler
might be preparing for a Hohenzollern restoration." Just as after George VI
's accession Channon's standing in royal circles went from high to low, so, as an appeaser, did his standing in the Conservative party after the failure of appeasement and the appointment of the arch anti-appeaser Winston Churchill
as prime minister. Channon remained loyal to the supplanted Neville Chamberlain
, toasting him after his fall as "the King over the Water", and sharing Butler's denigration of Churchill as "a half-breed American." Channon's interest in politics waned after this, and he took an increasing interest in the Guinness family brewing interests, though remaining a conscientious and popular constituency MP.
In July 1939 Channon met the landscape designer Peter Daniel Coats (1910–1990), with whom he began an affair that led to Channon's separation from his wife the following year and the dissolution of the marriage in 1945. Despite Channon's conduct, it was he who sued for divorce. His wife, who had left him in favour of a Czech airman, did not contest the suit and he was, therefore, theoretically the innocent party. Among others with whom he is known to have had affairs was the playwright Terence Rattigan
, and Channon was on intimate terms with Prince Paul and the Duke of Kent
, though whether those relationships were platonic or otherwise is not yet known.
Once it became clear that he would not achieve ministerial office, Channon sought elevation to the peerage, but in this, too, he was unsuccessful. The highest honour he achieved was a knighthood in 1957, the year before his death.
"on condition that the said diaries shall not be read ... until 60 years from my death." An expurgated selection from the diaries, edited by Robert Rhodes James
was published in 1967. The necessity for expurgation is illustrated by the reaction of an Oxford contemporary who, when told that no diaries from that period existed, said, "Thank God!" Rhodes James said he saw well-connected people go white when they heard that Channon had kept a journal.
In his comments accompanying the published selection, Rhodes James stated that "Peter Coats edited the original MS of the Diaries" He also stated that Coats arranged the preparation of a complete typescript of the Diaries as Channon's handwriting was often difficult to read. It is not clear whether Coats carried out an initial expurgation prior to the editorial discretion exercised by Rhodes James.
Four previously unknown volumes turned up at a car boot sale
in 1991. It was reported after Paul Channon's death that his heir, the diarist's grandson, was considering authorising the publication of the uncensored texts.
Robert Rhodes James quotes in his introduction to the diaries a self-portrait written by Channon on 19 July 1935:
Reviewing the diaries in The Observer
, Malcolm Muggeridge
wrote, "Grovellingly sycophantic and snobbish as only a well-heeled American nesting among the English upper classes can be, with a commonness that positively hurts at times. And yet – how sharp an eye! What neat malice! How, in their own fashion, well written and truthful and honest they are! … What a relief to turn to him after Sir Winston's windy rhetoric, and all those leaden narratives by field-marshals, air-marshals and admirals!"
The diaries, even in their bowdlerised form, provoked a writ for libel from one of Channon's fellow MPs, though the case did not come to court, being settled privately.
's novel The Razor's Edge
(1944) and the disappointed schoolmaster Crocker-Harris in Terence Rattigan
's play The Browning Version (1948) were partly inspired by Channon. Among his contemporaries his reputation ranged from high to low. Nancy Mitford
said of the diary, "you can't think how vile & spiteful & silly it is. One always thought Chips was rather a dear, but he was black inside how sinister!" Duff Cooper
thought Channon a "toady" but Cooper's widow, Lady Diana Cooper
wrote immediately after Channon's death, "never was there a surer or more enlivening friend ... . He installed the mighty in his gilded chairs and exalted the humble ... without stint he gave of his riches and his compassion."
Channon is the subject of a full-length biography, Lord of Hosts: The Life of Sir Henry 'Chips Channon, by Richard Carreno, published in 2011.
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician, author and diarist. Channon moved to England in 1920 and became strongly anti-American, feeling that American cultural and economic views threatened traditional European and British civilisation. He wrote extensively about these views. Channon quickly became enamoured of London society and became a social and political climber.
Channon was first elected as a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) in 1935. In his political career he failed to achieve ministerial office and was unsuccessful in his pursuit of a peerage, but he is remembered as one of the most famous political and social diarists of the twentieth century. His diaries have so far been published only in an expurgated edition.
Early years
Channon was born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
to an Anglo-American family. In adult life he took to giving 1899 as his year of birth, and was embarrassed when a British newspaper revealed that the true year was 1897. His grandfather had emigrated to the U.S. in the mid-nineteenth century and established a profitable fleet of vessels on the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
, which formed the basis of the family's wealth. Channon's paternal grandmother was descended from eighteenth century English settlers. Channon's parents were Vesta née Westover and Henry Channon II, known as Harry. After private education in America, Channon travelled to France with the American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
in October 1917 and became an honorary attaché at the American embassy in Paris the next year.
In 1920 and 1921, Channon was at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
where he obtained a pass degree in French, and acquired the nickname "Chips". He began a lifelong friendship with Prince Paul of Yugoslavia
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, also known as Paul Karađorđević , was Regent of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during the minority of King Peter II. Peter was the eldest son of his first cousin Alexander I...
, whom in his diaries he called "the person I have loved most. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography said of this phase of Channon's life, "adoring London society, privilege, rank, and wealth, he became an energetic, implacable, but endearing social climber." He also became an author.
Author
Channon rejected his American background and was passionate about Europe in general and England in particular. The US, he said, was "a menace to the peace and future of the world. If it triumphs, the old civilisations, which love beauty and peace and the arts and rank and privilege, will pass from the picture." His anti-Americanism was reflected in his novel, Joan Kennedy published in 1929, described by the publishers as "the story of an English girl's marriage to a wealthy American and of her attempts to bridge the gulf created by differences of race and education."Channon's anti-Americanism did not prevent his living off American money. A grant of $90,000 from his father, and an $85,000 inheritance from his grandfather made him financially comfortable with no need to work. He wrote two more books: a second novel, Paradise City (1931) about the disastrous effects of American capitalism, and a non-fiction work, The Ludwigs of Bavaria (1933). The latter, a study of the last generations of the ruling Wittelsbach dynasty of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n kings, received excellent notices, and was in print twenty years later. Some critical reservations reflected Channon's adulation of minor European royalty: The Manchester Guardian said of his account of the 1918 revolution, "he seems to have depended almost exclusively on aristocratic sources, which are most clearly insufficient." Despite this, the book was described on its reissue in 1952 as "a fascinating study ... excellently written". Reviews of both the 1933 edition and the reissue singled out a section on architecture and décor, Channon's expertise in which took a practical form shortly after the publication of the book when he had first a large town house and then a country house in which to engage his passion for design.
Marriage and politics
In 1933, Channon married the brewing heiress Lady Honor Guinness (1909–1976), eldest daughter of the second Earl of IveaghEarl of Iveagh
Earl of Iveagh is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for the businessman and philanthropist Edward Guinness, 1st Viscount Iveagh. He was the third son of Sir Benjamin Guinness, 1st Baronet, of Ashford, and the great-grandson of Arthur Guinness, the founder of the...
. In 1935 their only child was born, a son, whom they named Paul. In the same year the Channons moved into a grand London house at 5 Belgrave Square
Belgrave Square
Belgrave Square is one of the grandest and largest 19th century squares in London, England. It is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and was laid out by the property contractor Thomas Cubitt for the 2nd Earl Grosvenor, later the 1st Marquess of Westminster, in the 1820s. Most of the houses were occupied...
, next door to the London house of the Duke of Kent
Prince George, Duke of Kent
Prince George, Duke of Kent was a member of the British Royal Family, the fourth son of George V and Mary of Teck, and younger brother of Edward VIII and George VI...
, and two years later also acquired a country estate at Kelvedon Hatch
Kelvedon Hatch
Kelvedon Hatch is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Brentwood in south Essex, England. It is situated just north of Pilgrims Hatch, approximately to the north of Brentwood and is surrounded by Metropolitan Green Belt. The village today is no longer a rural backwater with a large...
, near Brentwood
Brentwood, Essex
Brentwood is a town and the principal settlement of the Borough of Brentwood, in the county of Essex in the east of England. It is located in the London commuter belt, 20 miles east north-east of Charing Cross in London, and near the M25 motorway....
in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
. Channon quickly established himself as a society host, in his famous blue and silver dining room designed by Stéphane Boudin
Stéphane Boudin
Stéphane Boudin was a French interior designer and a president of Maison Jansen, the influential Paris-based interior decorating firm.Boudin is best known for being asked by U.S...
and modelled on the Amalienburg
Amalienburg
The Amalienburg is a small hunting lodge in the Nymphenburg Palace of Munich, southern Germany. It was constructed in 1734-1739 by François de Cuvilliés, in Rococo style, for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII and his wife, Maria Amalia of Austria....
. Perhaps the apogee of his career in that role came on Thursday, 19 November 1936, with a guest list headed by Edward VIII
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
, Prince Paul of Yugoslavia
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, also known as Paul Karađorđević , was Regent of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during the minority of King Peter II. Peter was the eldest son of his first cousin Alexander I...
, then Regent and his wife Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark
Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark
Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark was the granddaughter of King George I of Greece and wife of the last Prince Regent of Yugoslavia.-Early life:...
, the Duke of Kent
Prince George, Duke of Kent
Prince George, Duke of Kent was a member of the British Royal Family, the fourth son of George V and Mary of Teck, and younger brother of Edward VIII and George VI...
and his wife Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark and Mrs Simpson, of whom Channon was a friend and admirer. Twenty-two days later, on 11 December, Edward abdicated
Edward VIII abdication crisis
In 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire was caused by King-Emperor Edward VIII's proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite....
.
Channon, who was a naturalised British citizen, became a Conservative politician. At the 1935 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1935
The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...
, he was elected Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Southend
Southend (UK Parliament constituency)
Southend was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Southend-on-Sea in Essex. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
, the seat previously held by his mother-in-law Gwendolen Guinness, Countess of Iveagh
Gwendolen Guinness, Countess of Iveagh
Gwendolen Florence Mary Guinness, Countess of Iveagh , was a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom, and, by marriage, a member of the Anglo-Irish Guinness brewing dynasty....
. After boundary changes in 1950, he was returned for the new Southend West constituency
Southend West (UK Parliament constituency)
Southend West is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
, holding the seat until his death in 1958.
In 1936, the rising Conservative minister R A Butler
Rab Butler
Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, KG CH DL PC , who invariably signed his name R. A. Butler and was familiarly known as Rab, was a British Conservative politician...
(universally known as "Rab"), Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
A Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the government of the United Kingdom, junior to both a Minister of State and a Secretary of State....
at the Foreign Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
appointed Channon his Parliamentary Private Secretary
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...
. Butler was associated with the appeasement
Appeasement
The term appeasement is commonly understood to refer to a diplomatic policy aimed at avoiding war by making concessions to another power. Historian Paul Kennedy defines it as "the policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying grievances through rational negotiation and...
wing of the Conservative party, and Channon, as with the abdication, found himself on the losing side. In the words of the ODNB: "Always ferociously anti-communist, he was an early dupe of the Nazis because his attractive German princelings hoped that Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
might be preparing for a Hohenzollern restoration." Just as after George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
's accession Channon's standing in royal circles went from high to low, so, as an appeaser, did his standing in the Conservative party after the failure of appeasement and the appointment of the arch anti-appeaser Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
as prime minister. Channon remained loyal to the supplanted Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
, toasting him after his fall as "the King over the Water", and sharing Butler's denigration of Churchill as "a half-breed American." Channon's interest in politics waned after this, and he took an increasing interest in the Guinness family brewing interests, though remaining a conscientious and popular constituency MP.
In July 1939 Channon met the landscape designer Peter Daniel Coats (1910–1990), with whom he began an affair that led to Channon's separation from his wife the following year and the dissolution of the marriage in 1945. Despite Channon's conduct, it was he who sued for divorce. His wife, who had left him in favour of a Czech airman, did not contest the suit and he was, therefore, theoretically the innocent party. Among others with whom he is known to have had affairs was the playwright Terence Rattigan
Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
, and Channon was on intimate terms with Prince Paul and the Duke of Kent
Prince George, Duke of Kent
Prince George, Duke of Kent was a member of the British Royal Family, the fourth son of George V and Mary of Teck, and younger brother of Edward VIII and George VI...
, though whether those relationships were platonic or otherwise is not yet known.
Once it became clear that he would not achieve ministerial office, Channon sought elevation to the peerage, but in this, too, he was unsuccessful. The highest honour he achieved was a knighthood in 1957, the year before his death.
Diaries
Channon's diaries have never been published in full. Under Channon's will, he left his diaries and other material to the British MuseumBritish Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
"on condition that the said diaries shall not be read ... until 60 years from my death." An expurgated selection from the diaries, edited by Robert Rhodes James
Robert Rhodes James
Sir Robert Vidal Rhodes James was a British historian and Conservative Member of Parliament. He was born in India and began his education in private schools there, returning to England to attend Sedbergh School and then Worcester College, Oxford.He wrote his first book, a much-acclaimed biography...
was published in 1967. The necessity for expurgation is illustrated by the reaction of an Oxford contemporary who, when told that no diaries from that period existed, said, "Thank God!" Rhodes James said he saw well-connected people go white when they heard that Channon had kept a journal.
In his comments accompanying the published selection, Rhodes James stated that "Peter Coats edited the original MS of the Diaries" He also stated that Coats arranged the preparation of a complete typescript of the Diaries as Channon's handwriting was often difficult to read. It is not clear whether Coats carried out an initial expurgation prior to the editorial discretion exercised by Rhodes James.
Four previously unknown volumes turned up at a car boot sale
Car boot sale
Car boot/trunk sales or boot/trunk fairs are a mainly British form of market in which private individuals come together to sell household and garden goods.The term refers to the selling of items from a car's boot or trunk...
in 1991. It was reported after Paul Channon's death that his heir, the diarist's grandson, was considering authorising the publication of the uncensored texts.
Robert Rhodes James quotes in his introduction to the diaries a self-portrait written by Channon on 19 July 1935:
- Sometimes I think I have an unusual character — able but trivial; I have flair, intuition, great good taste but only second rate ambition: I am far too susceptible to flattery; I hate and am uninterested in all the things most men like such as sports, business, statistics, debates, speeches, war, and the weather; but I am riveted by lust, furniture, glamour and society and jewels. I am an excellent organizer and have a will of iron; I can only be appealed to through my vanity. Occasionally I must have solitude: my soul craves for it. All thought is done in solitude; only then am I partly happy.
Reviewing the diaries in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, Malcolm Muggeridge
Malcolm Muggeridge
Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge was an English journalist, author, media personality, and satirist. During World War II, he was a soldier and a spy...
wrote, "Grovellingly sycophantic and snobbish as only a well-heeled American nesting among the English upper classes can be, with a commonness that positively hurts at times. And yet – how sharp an eye! What neat malice! How, in their own fashion, well written and truthful and honest they are! … What a relief to turn to him after Sir Winston's windy rhetoric, and all those leaden narratives by field-marshals, air-marshals and admirals!"
The diaries, even in their bowdlerised form, provoked a writ for libel from one of Channon's fellow MPs, though the case did not come to court, being settled privately.
Reputation
Channon's biographer in the ODNB notes that Elliot Templeton in W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...
's novel The Razor's Edge
The Razor's Edge
The Razor’s Edge is a book by W. Somerset Maugham published in 1944. Its epigraph reads, "The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard." taken from a verse in the Katha-Upanishad....
(1944) and the disappointed schoolmaster Crocker-Harris in Terence Rattigan
Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
's play The Browning Version (1948) were partly inspired by Channon. Among his contemporaries his reputation ranged from high to low. Nancy Mitford
Nancy Mitford
Nancy Freeman-Mitford, CBE , styled The Hon. Nancy Mitford before her marriage and The Hon. Mrs Peter Rodd thereafter, was an English novelist and biographer, one of the Bright Young People on the London social scene in the inter-war years...
said of the diary, "you can't think how vile & spiteful & silly it is. One always thought Chips was rather a dear, but he was black inside how sinister!" Duff Cooper
Duff Cooper
Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich GCMG, DSO, PC , known as Duff Cooper, was a British Conservative Party politician, diplomat and author. He wrote six books, including an autobiography, Old Men Forget, and a biography of Talleyrand...
thought Channon a "toady" but Cooper's widow, Lady Diana Cooper
Lady Diana Cooper
Lady Diana Cooper, Viscountess Norwich was an English socialite and actress.-Birth and youth:Born Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners, she was officially the youngest daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland and his wife, the former Violet Lindsay, but Lady Diana's real father was widely supposed...
wrote immediately after Channon's death, "never was there a surer or more enlivening friend ... . He installed the mighty in his gilded chairs and exalted the humble ... without stint he gave of his riches and his compassion."
Channon is the subject of a full-length biography, Lord of Hosts: The Life of Sir Henry 'Chips Channon, by Richard Carreno, published in 2011.