James Lees-Milne The Life

All Books are second hand
Michael Bloch
9780719565502

James Lees-Milne (19081997) known to friends as Jim is remembered for his work for the National Trust, rescuing some of Englands greatest architectural treasures, and for the vivid and entertaining diaries which have earned him a reputation as "the 20th-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 Jims 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 Jims 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