Hellfire

Evelyn Waugh and the Hypocrites Club

David Fleming

$49.99

Hardback

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English

HISTORY PRESS
01 December 2022

Biography; Biography: historical, political & military; British & Irish history; 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000; Social & cultural history

The first book to tell the remarkable story of Oxford University's hedonistic Hypocrites Club and its (in)famous members.

Late on the evening of 8 March 1924, a drunk nun was seen by the porters of Balliol, Oxford, trying to steal into the college just before the gates were due to close. Balliol was an all-male establishment, and visits by young women were rare, especially those belonging to a religious order. The nun turned out to be the son of the college bursar, who had been attending a fancy dress party at a notorious Oxford drinking club. The group, described by another member as 'a kind of early twentieth century Hellfire Club', called themselves the Hypocrites Club, and counted some of the brightest of the Bright Young Things among its members. Its one-time secretary was Evelyn Waugh, who used no less than nine of his fellow Hypocrites as inspiration for his fictional characters. Although its latest controversy marked the end of this remarkable, if short-lived institution, its members continued to be thorns in the Establishment's side for the next five decades, throughout war and austerity. HELLFIRE is the first full-length portrait of this notorious club and its most famous members, several of whom would go on to become highly prominent in British culture and politics.

AUTHOR: David Fleming has been an award-winning documentary filmmaker and a journalist, whose articles have appeared in the Guardian, Independent, The Telegraph and the Mail of Sunday. He co-wrote Barging around Britain (Penguin, 2015) with John Sergeant, which accompanied the BBC television series.

20 b/w illustrations

By: David Fleming
Imprint: HISTORY PRESS
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 26mm
ISBN: 9780750999281
ISBN 10: 0750999284
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 01 December 2022
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Unspecified

David Fleming has been an award-winning documentary filmmaker and a journalist, whose articles have appeared in the Guardian, Independent, The Telegraph and the Mail of Sunday. He co-wrote Barging around Britain (Penguin, 2015) with John Sergeant, which accompanied the BBC television series.

Reviews for Hellfire: Evelyn Waugh and the Hypocrites Club

... A constant pleasure. - Mark Amory, The Spectator. * The Spectator * 'a fascinating and well-told account of an extraordinary group of figures in interwar Oxford, including Waugh, Anthony Powell and the political journalist Claud Cockburn.' - The Article