Peter Fleming (journalist, soldier, travel writer and brother of Ian) commissioned Jan Struther to write a regular column for The Times about “an ordinary sort of woman who leads an ordinary sort of life”.
JK Galbraith’s foreword to the British edition of this novel is timeless. He wrote it in 1990 and it is as relevant now as it was thirty-two years ago; his style is faultless; not often a trait of an economist.
Much has been written about Chips’s lack of political judgement, moral turpitude, snobbishness, vanity and hypochondria. All I can add is he was devoid of any sense of humour.