Between the Sheets of Arthur Bryant

For about five years I rented the Orangery in the grounds of Basildon Park.

My routine was to leave work at about 8.00 pm on Friday and be there by about 10.00 pm for a late supper. On Saturday morning drive to Waitrose and get lunch ready for guests; cook supper for same and breakfast. Then either they cooked lunch or we went to a pub. It was the greatest fun. I had the run of the estate, bicycles, wonderful riverside walks, etc. But in one respect it reminded me of my weekends in the Territorial Army (HAC) when I’d get home at teatime, if lucky, on Sunday utterly exhausted after too much night-time training on Salisbury Plain.

These memories of my youth came back when I read that Sir Arthur Bryant used to vacate his spacious home at Number 18 Rutland Gate to spend one night a week at the South Pavilion in Wotton Underwood. I do not need to tell you about the building, its architecture and ownership because you will recall a post from the other day, Wotton House. May I say, re-reading the post, I think my pictures are quite good and now I know Sir Arthur was the owner before Sir John.

Are you curious that Arthur Bryant should choose to visit SP for only one night weekly, without his wife or, as it happens, his official mistress? His mistress was. Eventually she discovered he had yet another mistress there who tended to his every need, so no Saturday morning trips to the shops, cooking or washing up for Sir A.

“Everyone has three lives: a public life, a private life and a secret life.’ (Gabriel García Márquez)

I am reading Historic Affairs, the Muses of Sir Arthur Bryant a devastating exposé of his secret life. It should be put in context. Bryant was a prolific author, a best seller and a public figure. He was pleased with himself but he had a lot to be pleased about. When his publisher, Sir William Collins, was asked what sort of books he published he replied “fiction, non-fiction and Arthur Bryant”. (If he had replied seriously he would have mentioned Bibles.)

A luncheon to celebrate his 80th birthday at Vintners’ Hall in 1979 was attended by the Prime Minister (Callaghan), Macmillan, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Great and the good. But Sir Arthur knew where his bread was buttered. Lady Collins and her son, Jan, were among just eight seated beside Sir Arthur on top table.

When it comes to re-assessing Bryant as an historian it must be admitted his style and content, so popular with the Queen Mother, has now fallen out of fashion. He depicted an idealised, English agrarian past, Merrie England if you will, with patrician actors in the foreground and a cast of wassailing yokels as extras. This century I am perhaps the only reader to find this most agreeable.

I have ordered The Age of Elegance, 1812 – 1822. “Anyone interested in Napoleon or the Duke of Wellington should give this a read. If you’re feeling disenchnated with the modern world, retreat into Bryant’s super-charged love-song to Regency England. Here, Britain is not merely great but, in a rollicking pre-Victorian way, rich, self-indulgent and brilliant.”