The Spoken Word: Evelyn Waugh
15 April 2008
Rare historic BBC recordings published for the first time
Publication date: 15 April 2008
On 15 April 2008, the British Library releases the latest addition to its popular series of literary spoken word CDs, featuring previously unpublished BBC broadcasts of Evelyn Waugh, recorded 1938 – 1963. Released to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the publication of his first novel, Decline and Fall (1938), these recordings are being made commercially available for the first time.
Drawing on unpublished BBC broadcasts from a period of over 25 years, this CD presents Evelyn Waugh - widely regarded as the most brilliant satirical novelist of his day - in some of his most significant radio appearances. The recordings range from the earliest surviving example of Waugh's voice, dating from 1938, to a speech given at the Royal Society of Literature in 1963, just three years before his death. Listeners can hear the writer as a 35 year-old, 10 years into his first flush of literary success; as a middle-aged abhorrer of post-war society; and as a venerated old master.
One recording features Waugh in a famously hostile encounter with the media, an interview for the BBC Home Service series ‘Frankly Speaking', broadcast 16 November 1953. A trio of inquisitors, Charles Wilmot, Jack Davies and Stephen Black, attempt to solicit from Waugh his most illiberal social, cultural and political opinions. The interview opens with one of the three interviewers commenting, “May I say to begin with that I personally find, reading your books, that you are… perhaps the most interesting, amusing, and at the same time depressing person now writing.” Provocative questions probing Waugh for his views on foreign cultures, the welfare state and capital punishment lead Waugh to conclude, “I clearly can't make myself understood!” Writing in The Spectator, 20 November 1953, the writer 'Strix' (Peter Fleming) declared he 'had never heard an interview conducted in public on such ill-natured terms', comparing it to the goading of a bull by picadors. Waugh fictionalized the interview in his novel, The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold (1957), concluding (as Pinfold), ‘They tried to make an ass of me. I don't believe they succeeded.'
‘Up to London', the first track on the CD, is the earliest surviving recording of Evelyn Waugh's voice. Waugh describes the protocol and ceremony of the 'coming out' of the London debutante, “thrown robustly into male society and ordered to be attractive”. In 1938 this was a world still essentially unchanged from that of the 'bright young things' satirized in his 1930 novel Vile Bodies . Waugh comments, “Generally speaking, the poorer the girl, the more expensive it is to set her going. If she starts with older brothers and sisters and popular parents, little will need to be done for her beyond buying her some clothes, having her photographed by the right photographers who are on good terms with the illustrated papers, and teaching her three simple topics of conversation: one highbrow, one high-spirited and one flirtatious.”
In the second track on the CD, Waugh is heard taking part in a Oxford University debate, arguing – with no attempt at seriousness - against a motion congratulating the press on ‘keeping the home fires burning' (the programme was broadcast on 10 August 1939, just three weeks prior to Britain's declaration of war on Germany). The third track features Waugh reading 'Half in Love with Easeful Death', a journalistic account of Californian burial customs later fictionalized in his 1947 novel The Loved One. The final track was recorded on location by the BBC at a Royal Society of Literature event on 25 June 1963, where Waugh formally receives the Companionship of the Society and gives an elegant speech of thanks.
Stephen Cleary, Curator of Drama and Literature at the British Library Sound Archive, commented: “This new collection of Evelyn Waugh recordings enables fans to hear the writer in some of his most significant radio appearances, from the earliest extant recording of Waugh's voice, made in 1938, when he was still enjoying his first decade of literary success, to his 1963 commendation by the Royal Society of Literature, only three years before his death. These historic BBC broadcasts offer a rare opportunity to hear Waugh, his writing and his acclaimed wit, expressed in his own voice.”
For press information, interviews, images and broadcast quality audio extracts, contact Ruth Howlett at the British Library Press Office: +44 (0)20 7412 7112 or ruth.howlett@bl.uk
Notes for Editors
The Spoken Word: Evelyn Waugh is published by the British Library on 15 April 2008, price £9.95, running time 66 minutes (ISBN 978 0 7123 0546 4). The CD is accompanied by a booklet including introductory essay.
The CD is available from the British Library Shop (tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7735 / e-mail: bl-bookshop@bl.uk) and online at www.bl.uk/shop as well as other bookshops throughout the UK.
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world's greatest research libraries. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library's collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation. It includes: books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages. Further information is available on the Library's website at www.bl.uk
TRACK LISTING
1. Up to London (extract) 7'36”
Broadcast 21 June 1938 by BBC regional West of England and London services.
2. Undergraduate Summer (extract) 3'53”
Broadcast 10 August 1939 by BBC regional West of England, Midland, Wales and London services. Broadcast nationally the following day.
3. ‘Half in Love with Easeful Death' 23'38”
Recorded 11 March 1948 for BBC Radio. Broadcast 8 May 1948 on the Third Programme.
4. Frankly Speaking 27'40”
Broadcast 16 November 1953 on the BBC Home Service.
5. Speech at the Royal Society of Literature (extract) 3'28”
Recorded 25 June 1963, Skinners' Hall, London, by the BBC.