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James Lees-Milne (1908-97) – known to friends as Jim – is remembered for his work for the National Trust, rescuing some of England’s greatest architectural treasures, and for the vivid and entertaining diaries which have earned him a reputation as ‘the twentieth-century Pepys’. In this long-awaited biography, Michael Bloch portrays a life rich in contradictions, in which an unassuming youth overtook more dazzling contemporaries to emerge as a leading figure in the fields of conservation and letters. It describes Jim’s bisexual love life, his tempestuous marriage to the exotic Alvilde, and his friendship with other fascinating literary figures including John Betjeman, Robert Byron, Rosamond Lehmann, and the Mitford sisters (whose brother Tom had been Jim’s great love at Eton). It depicts a man who was romantically attached to the England of his childhood and felt out of tune with his own times, but who left an enduring legacy through the preservation of country houses and his eloquent chronicling of a dying world.
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Reviews
'His biography is disciplined, compact, elegant and tender, and equally illuminating, suggestive and commodius abouit all the compartmentalized little platoons that Lees-Milne served,'
'This book is so well-written you can actually imagine what it's like to be duiaryist James Lees-Milne ... a brilliant insight into another world'
'Total candour and integrity. This is an absolutely model biography'
' Michael Bloch's admirable biography has nothing of déjà vu about it. He has done his old friend proud '
'His vivid and sparkling biography...an accomplished and confident account...admirable,'
'The writer's affection and understanding has resulted in a remarkable study, a striking three-dimensional portrait of a subversive, sensitive and endearing man. Naturally, Block has made good use of the diaries, but he has gone far beyond them, investigating the long periods when nothing was written as well as uncovering an intriguing and recurrent thread of fantasy...
James Lees-Milne:The Life is an exceptional biography: lively perceptive and well-written...The diaries will never be superseded, but this book is their essential companion',
'Admirably crisp and comprehensive life of the Pepys of the twentieth century'
'A frank and sympathetic portrait...9/10',
Full of sex, scandal and name-dropping, this biography does justice to James Lees-Milne'
'A frank and sympathetic portrait'
'Very funny indeed'
'If he does not sweep us up the whole length of the drive with his passionate intensity, he succeeds in dropping us off safely at the gates of a minor, but convincing, national treasure'
'Funny, observant and revealing'
'Fascinating new biography'
'Bloch has produced the perfect compliment to Lees-Milne's books and fully justified his mentor's faith'
'Bloch...is a tactful, sensitive but not an indulgent biographer.'
'This book presents a frank and sympathetic portrait'
"Michael Bloch has served his old friend well...a book every bit as well written and entertaining as the diaries"
"Frank and sympathetic portrait of a complex, cultured and loveable man, whose fame grew as he aged"
" A rich social history and a warm picture of a man particular to his time"
'Admirably judged; warm, but not hagiographical; sufficiently candid, and acutely revealing...the subject and the author are here perfectly matched'
'A unique insight into the workings of our charity in its early days... and more'
'His biography is disciplined, compact, elegant and tender, and equally illuminating, suggestive and commodius abouit all the compartmentalized little platoons that Lees-Milne served,'
'This book is so well-written you can actually imagine what it's like to be duiaryist James Lees-Milne ... a brilliant insight into another world'
'Total candour and integrity. This is an absolutely model biography'
' Michael Bloch's admirable biography has nothing of déjà vu about it. He has done his old friend proud '
'His vivid and sparkling biography...an accomplished and confident account...admirable,'
'The writer's affection and understanding has resulted in a remarkable study, a striking three-dimensional portrait of a subversive, sensitive and endearing man. Naturally, Block has made good use of the diaries, but he has gone far beyond them, investigating the long periods when nothing was written as well as uncovering an intriguing and recurrent thread of fantasy...
James Lees-Milne:The Life is an exceptional biography: lively perceptive and well-written...The diaries will never be superseded, but this book is their essential companion',
'Admirably crisp and comprehensive life of the Pepys of the twentieth century'
'A frank and sympathetic portrait...9/10',
Full of sex, scandal and name-dropping, this biography does justice to James Lees-Milne'
'A frank and sympathetic portrait'
'Very funny indeed'
'If he does not sweep us up the whole length of the drive with his passionate intensity, he succeeds in dropping us off safely at the gates of a minor, but convincing, national treasure'
'Funny, observant and revealing'
'Fascinating new biography'
'Bloch has produced the perfect compliment to Lees-Milne's books and fully justified his mentor's faith'
'Bloch...is a tactful, sensitive but not an indulgent biographer.'
'This book presents a frank and sympathetic portrait'
"Michael Bloch has served his old friend well...a book every bit as well written and entertaining as the diaries"
"Frank and sympathetic portrait of a complex, cultured and loveable man, whose fame grew as he aged"
" A rich social history and a warm picture of a man particular to his time"
'Admirably judged; warm, but not hagiographical; sufficiently candid, and acutely revealing...the subject and the author are here perfectly matched'
'A unique insight into the workings of our charity in its early days... and more'