When I heard that Tam Dalyell had died I remembered that he had been interviewed by Danny Danziger in Eton Voices.
He interviewed forty-two OEs of all ages and backgrounds, well as varied as you can get at Eton, for this book published in 1988. It is a wonderful book to dip into. Politicians, including Tam Dalyell, are the least revealing. Alec Douglas-Home plays a straight bat; his brother, William, tells some good stories. Nicky Haslam is gossipy and hops from subject to subject. He remembers being taken out to tea by Pamela Harriman whose son, “little Winston” as he calls him, was a friend of Haslam’s. Her perfect alligator shoe emerging from a beige Rolls-Royce was his first glimpse of glamour. He remembers little Winston being flown to New York for the opening of My Fair Lady one Long Leave. “My God, that’s the epitome of glamour.”
On personal hygiene he opines “the lack of being able to wash one’s hair oneself, you know – … until ten years ago the English hadn’t any idea how to wash their hair! They just didn’t do it, and people got bald by the time they left school practically”.
Anthony Blond is especially candid. Here he describes his last day at Eton. “I bought a motorbike, twenty-five pounds, from a boy called Holder. It was in very bad condition and it could only go in one gear. I couldn’t stop and turn around, so I drove into College Field where they played the wall game, and they had just spread some lime on the top. I couldn’t stop it or anything, so I just did a great huge circle. I remember the groundsman running after me, shouting, “What do you think you’re doing, you bugger!” I just drove steadily on to London, and went to lunch with my father at the Caprice – during which time he had the motorbike removed, and I never saw it again.”
These interviews are not a paean of praise for the school. Try this one.
“I wish that I hadn’t gone, because I think it gave one a definite sense of over-privilege. I find it very difficult to fight if things go badly; Eton didn’t give you resilience and strength. I feel it’s been very detrimental to me, because I haven’t fought nearly hard enough in my profession. I have very much taken things for granted and let things slip, I haven’t fought very hard for anything. If I’d been to a grammar school I think I’d have worked a lot harder and would have achieved a lot more. I think the great danger of Eton was that when you left you felt you could then live a life of indulgence. What it does, unfortunately, is to give you the illusion that everything’s going to be done for you.”
I do not agree with Patrick MacNee’s sentiments and it comes as no surprise when Michael Bentine, in his interview, says “my old friend Patrick MacNee, whom I’ve known, dear God, long enough, wasn’t terribly happy at Eton”. Some interviewees are unexpectedly candid about their adolescent sexuality. Danziger might have called his book Eton Vices.
Did you read the Weekend FT? If so you may have chanced on a good spoof on sartorial and hygiene guidance for men in offices – old school and university ties, never – except OE, obviously.
If you watch this documentary , narrated trenchantly by Willie Rushton (Salopian) you will notice that the film was passed by the censor (Lord Harlech) who is mentioned in the film by Peter Carington (sic) aka Lord Carrington.