| Admin/Biog History | In April 1945 Nicolson was in England having returned to the country following a serious road accident whilst serving as an instructor for the Allied Aerial Photographic Interpretation Unit in Cairo. Two months later, in June, he resumed his work as Deputy Surveyor of the King's pictures. In October he was offered the position of Editor of the Burlington Magazine, formally took up post in December 1946, effectively juggling these two positions. In April 1948 he met and fell in love with David Carritt. |
| Description | In which Nicolson resumes writing a diary after a break of more than a year. Entries are regular, but rarely daily. On some occasions (eg. February - April 1946) there are large gaps. Writes about the end of the Second World War and the changing political situation in Europe including, in particular, growing hostilities with Russia. Writes about the resumption of his career as an art historian, including his work at the National Gallery and particularly as Deputy Surveyor of the King's pictures in which role he spends time in the various Royal Households. Writes about socialising, and conversations with, many art historians including Kenneth Clark, Oliver Millar, Douglas Cooper, John Pope-Hennessy, Anthony Blunt and Ellis Waterhouse. Reports on art historical gossip (eg. 15 August 1945 that Anthony Blunt was offered the National Gallery Directorship, but turned it down).
Writes about juggling his role as Deputy Surveyor with his work as an art critic. References how difficult he finds it to write (eg. May/June 1946 concerning his article on Pissarro) and references his work for various publications including in particular Contact Magazine. Writes about the reception of his articles and those of his fellow art historians.
Outside his professional circle, Nicolson socialises with a large group of friends including, in particular, Philip and Anne Toynbee, Brian and Alfreda Urquhart, Graham Sutherland, Lawrence Gowing, Julia Strachey, Richard Neville, Brian Howard, Cyril Connolly and Derek Hill. Spends many drunken evenings at various clubs and establishments including the Gargoyle, White Tower, Brooks, Beefsteak, and Cafe Royal. Also records attending regular 'ordinaries' organised by Sybil Colefax. Writes about belonging to the intellectual smart set in London. Throughout the diary he records his views on society, class and his own experience of operating in different social circles.
Nicolson writes regularly about his sexuality, same-sex relationships and the difficulties these present in life. Writes about 'orgiastic' parties thrown, in particular, by Richard Neville, and the sexual preferences and practices of friends (including their involvements with guardsmen). Writes about the importance of satisfaction in love and his concern at being a virgin aged thirty-three. In late 1947, writes about a crush on Richard Wollheim. Meets David Carritt in 1948 and the remainder of the diary is almost exclusively concerned with their love-affair.
This journal is more contemplative and less factual than previous volumes: Nicolson regularly laments the passing of his youth and the diffculties of growing older into middle age. From 1946 onwards, writes about his happiness and contentment with life. He reflects on the character of his friends, his own identity, love and relationships.
The front of the journal includes a list of reviews and articles written during the period. Books read at the back.
Of particular note:
1945
April
-30th: dines with George Lowther and Cyril Joad
May
-1st: writes about a work by Picasso purchased by Nicolson in 1941 that is 'now on exhibition at Lefevre'
-2nd-3rd: lunches with Emiliano Guidotti; spends the weekend at Amberley with the Toynbee family; dines with Derek Hill, Anthony Blunt and Ian Robertson & discusses the merits of Victor Passmore and William Coldstream as artists
-4th: writes about Kenneth Clark's acquisition of the 'German Madonna from the Cork Collection' (NG5592)
-8th: writes about VE day in London and celebrating at Amberley with Philip Toynbee and others
-10th: attends a party at Eardley Knolly's flat with guests including John Sparrow; meets Adrian Ryan
-14th: lunches with Kenneth Clark and discusses Clive Bell's reputation as an art critic; views some of the paintings at the National Gallery
-15th: spends the day with Lawrence Gowing; spends two hours with Cressida Bonham-Carter
-16th: Richard Rumbold describes Belsen concentration camp; dines with Stephen Spender where they discuss, amongst others, Cyril Joad
-17th: lunches with Douglas Cooper; attends the re-opening of the National Gallery; dines with John Pope-Hennessy [A digital copy of this entry can be found below]
-18th-21st: spends the weekend with Gwen St Aubyn at St Michael's Mount
-22nd: lunches with Raymond Mortimer; dines with Anthony Blunt & compares the two indviduals
-23rd: visits Tony and Brenda Bridge in Matlock
-25th-26th: visit to Oxford, socialises with, amongst others, Maurice Bowra; comments on Lawrence Gowing's reputation as an artist
-30th: writes that Clive Bell is 'very close to being a dirty old man' and that his pamphlet on Renoir's, Les Parapluies is 'ludicrously inadequate'
June
-1st: spends the day with Anthony Blunt in Windsor, looking at the pictures damaged from being stored in the vaults during the war
-2nd-3rd: socialises with Enid Bagnold and family at Eton and Rottingdean
-6th: dines with Eardley Knolly's who told us 'the saga of Vollard'
-7th: reads John Rewald's biography of Seurat and laments the fact that he was unable to complete his own work on the artist
-11th: spends the day with Anthony Blunt at Windsor; dines with Kenneth Clark
-12th: visits Logan Pearsall-Smith; dines with Philip Toynbee, Arthur Calder-Marshall and others
-14th: visits an exhibition at Agnew's and remarks 'Horrible world, the art world & I don't know who I dislike most dealers, collectors or critics: the first dishonest, the second pompous and the third unkind in personal relations'; socialises with Tilder-Wright, his father [Harold Nicolson], Anthony Blunt and Guy Burgess
-18th: returns to his office at St James' Palace for the first time since the outbreak of war and resumes work, alongside Anthony Blunt, as Deputy Surveyor of the King's pictures
-19th: visits Victor Passmore's studio in Stamford Brook with Lawrence Gowing; contemplates the 'departure from abstract art' that began in the 1930s; dines with Stuart Hampshire
-20th: spends the evening in the company of Evelyn Waugh
-24th: spends time at Sissinghurst in the company of Edward (Eddy) Sackville-West
-25th: hears Philip Toynbee lecture on the future of the English novel
-26th-28th: spends time at Windsor looking at pictures with Anthony Blunt; Gerald Kelly and William Drown; visits Kenneth Clark at the National Gallery; attends Timothy Bagnold's 21st birthday party
-29th: lunches with Clive Bell and Evelyn Waugh, together they visit an exhibition of Medieval and Renaissance works of art at the V&A in the company of Leigh Ashton
July
-3rd: socialises with Stuart Preston, Philip Toynbee and others
-4th-5th: assists his father (Harold Nicolson) in his Leicestershire constitutency on polling day at the General Election
-8th: writes about his father (Harold Nicolson) and his mother (Vita Sackville-West) and dynamics within his immediate family
-9th-11th: socialises with Stuart Preston; compares him with Anthony Blunt and reflects on the contemporary 'smart people' in London
-12th: hosts a lunch party attended by, amongst others, George Dix, Clive Bell and Philip Toynbee; spends the evening with Lawrence Gowing
-13th: attends the Neeld sale at Christie's with Anthony Blunt
-14th-15th: spends the weekend in Amberley with Brian and Alfreda Urquhart
-16th: attends, with Anthony Blunt, a party at the Dorchester organised by Sybil Colefax
-17th: spends the evening with his brother (Nigel Nicolson) who has just returned from active service
-18th: attends a party at Sybil Colefax's house alongside other guests including Cecil Day-Lewis
-19th: sits for a portrait by Lawrence Gowing
-20th: meets Jeremy Hutchinson; recounts meeting Anthony Blunt at MI5 Headquarters
-21st-22nd: at Sissinghurst with his brother (Nigel Nicolson)
-23rd: lunches with Mark Bonham-Carter
-24th: learns that he has been proposed as the next editor of the Burlington
-26th: spends the day with his father (Harold Nicolson) in Leicester watching the election votes being counted
-27th: hosts a lunch party where Philip Toynbee arrives drunk
-30th: writes about his admiration for Anthony Blunt
August
-2nd: lunches with John Maude and views a watercolour by Pissarro and a painting by Manet in his collection
-3rd: socialises with Isaiah Berlin who gives his opinion of Philip Toynbee's character
-6th-7th: records his views about the atomic bomb (following news of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki)
-10th-12th: spends the weekend at Stratfield Saye with Gerald Wellesley and views his collection
-14-16th: writes about celebrating 'VJ' day in London with, amongst others, Alfreda Huntington Urquhart; Philip and Anne Toynbee; Brian Howard and Dylan Thomas
-17th-22nd: writes about Philip Toynbee's drink problem & related behaviour
-18th: lunches with Anthony Blunt and Douglas Cooper
-25th: visits the studio of a picture restorer and watches the restoration of a painting by Canaletto
-26th: spends the weekend at Amberley, with the Toynbee family, & records what he values about staying there
September
-5th: records that he is 'a worm' to keep attending parties organised by Sybil Colefax
-6th: writes about Philip Toynbee's drink problem & related behavious
-10th: signs as art advisor to a newly established magazine entitled Contact
-17th: writes a 50 word autobiography which highlights all the attributes Nicolson believes he lacks
-19th: dines with E.M. Forster who cites Philip Toynbee as a young literary talent
-21st: meets the editors of Contact & discusses the style of the new paper
-22nd: reports that, after staying at Long Crichel, Raymond [Mortimer] has written a 'collins' which 'should prove one of the most intellectual documents of our age'
-24th: attends a party hosted by Sybil Colefax and reports on discussions concerning Isaiah Berlin; Maurice Bowra and Tom Boase
-27th: lunches with Raymond Mortimer, Clive Bell and Leigh Ashton
-30th: writes about how an article he has written for Contact magazine has been received by the art world
October
-2nd-3rd October: writes about assembling pictures from the Royal Collection at the National Gallery with Kenneth Clark and Henry Moore; attends a party thrown by Contact
-9th: paintings from the Royal Collection are returned from wartime storage
-11th: attends a lecture on Constable, given by Kennth Clark lecture at the Churchill Club; reports on André Malraux' policy regarding French museums
-16th: lunches with Clive Bell
-18th: records a 'typical time-table of my day'
-20th: Peter Lycett Gwen offers him the editorship of The Burlington Magazine
-22nd: attends a dinner party at Sybil Colefax's house alongside other guests including Kenneth Clark and Cecil Day Lewis [A digital copy of this entry can be found below]
-23rd: dines at the Beefsteak Club with Kenneth Clark and reflects on Clark's character [A digital copy of this entry can be found below]
-24th: dines with Paul Oppé, Lawrence Gowing and Julia Strachey with whom he discusses Graham Sutherland [A digital copy of this entry can be found below]
-25th: attends the first meeting of the Committee for the Summer Exhibition at Burlington House with, amongst others, Anthony Blunt
-26th: dines at Jane and Kenneth Clark's house in Hampstead amongst other guests including Graham and Kathleen Sutherland
November
-7th: spends an evening at the Gargoyle club in the company of Philip Toynbee, Augustus John, Dylan Thomas and Peter Quennell
-9th-10th: lunches with Philip Hendy; hears Kenneth Clark's new theory about Piero; buys a painting from Lawrence Gowing; discusses Han van Meegeren's 'Supper at Emmaus' purchased by the Museum Boijmans
-15th: lunches with Nikolaus Pevsner & learns about his scheme for preserving ruined churches
-16th: spends the morning at Buckingham Palace with Anthony Blunt
-17th: attends John Russell's wedding; dines with, amongst others, Peter Quennell
-18th: Philip and Anne Toynbee visit Sissinghurst; writes about the 'vices' of Anthony Blunt, Lawrence Gowing and other friends
-19th: views the sculpture 'Lucifer' by Jacob Epstein with Raymond Mortimer; attends a party with, amongst others, James Pope-Hennessy and Beatrice Lillie
-20th: gives his first lecture at the Courtauld; lunches at the Italian Embassy with, amongst others, Kenneth Clark
-21st-27th: discusses Cyril Connolly's publications 'The Condemned Playground' and 'The Unquiet Grave'; lunches with Ellis Waterhouse
-28th: James Pope-Hennessy asks Harold Nicolson to get him out of a posting to Frankfurt
December
-1st-17th: takes part in an official tour of art exhibitions and galleries in Naples, Rome, Siena & Florence at the invitation of the Italian Government; is accompanied by John Pope-Hennessy, James Mann, Philip Hendy, Willie Gibson. They are hosted/accompanied by various Italian art historians and artists (including Giovanni Poggi and Stanislao Lepri ) on visits to the Borghese Gallery; the Central Institute for Restoration; the Vatican; the Uffizzi ; I Tatti; the Pitti Palace and additional churches and private collections. Writes, in particular, about damage and destruction caused by the Second World War. [A digital copy of some of these entries can be found below]
-18th: returns to London; writes about the Picasso and Matisse exhibition at the V&A
-31st: attends a 'liberation party' at Kenneth Clark's house in Hampstead, alongside guests including Henry Moore, Victor Passmore and John Piper
1946
January
-1st: lunches with , amongst others, Maurice Bowra
-7th: visits Buckingham Palace with Anthony Blunt & views the items looted in Brunswick; attends a lunch party at Contact magazine
-8th: meets Peter de Polnay and describes him as 'the most awful man in the world'
-15th: attends a quiet dinner with Sibyl Colefax
-16th-18th: goes drinking with with Philip Toynbee; visits Esther Pissarro to ask about Lucien
-22rd: attends Ellis Waterhouse's first lecture at the Courtauld
-23rd: visits Polesden Lacy
-24th: spends an evening with Philip Toynbee and Stephen Spender
-25th-28th: at Windsor Castle with Anthony Blunt, Ellis Waterhouse and John Pope-Hennessy [A digital copy of some of these entries can be found below]
-31st: dines with John Russell
February:
-1st: records his views about women
-12th: attends a party with various guests including Brian Howard & Stephen Spender; writes about Philip Toynbee's drunken exploits in Paris
-13th: dines with Anthony Blunt and Tom Boase who discuss Fauvism
-14th: gives a lecture at Charterhouse
April
-5th: spends the day with Johannes Hell cleaning a picture by Parentino
-6th: appraises the first issue of 'Contact' magazine
-16th: first issue of Contact magazine released
-17th: writes about the Gargoyle club; visits Holyrood palace with Anthony Blunt
-26th: writes about an article he has written for the New Statesman; visits Johannes Hell in his studio in Belsize Park; dines with Anthony Blunt and John Pope-Hennessy
May
-6th: returns from a week at Windsor as a guest of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
-8th: mentions he is writing under the pseudonym Henry Crabbe
-9th: attends a party attended by, amongst others, Clive Bell, Tony Bridge and Graham Sutherland
-11th: records Maurice Bowra's comparison of Anthony Blunt and Ellis Waterhouse; records Isaiah Berlin's thoughts about Russia (following a visit to Moscow)
June:
-17th: writes about his father (Harold Nicolson), and his father's views on both himself and his brother (Nigel Nicolson)
-22nd & 24th: writes about how his article on Pissarro has been received by Desmond Shawe-Taylor, his father (Harold Nicolson) and Anthony Blunt; dines with Anthony Blunt and Blunt's mother; writes about his growing friendship with Blunt
-25th: recounts a story about James Pope-Hennessy's sexuality
July
-12th: writes about male same-sex relationships and about women; dines with Julia Strachey who reports that she and Lawrence 'have agreed to see less of each other from now on. Julia feels that he should find his own friends, lead his own life, reach his own decisions'; writes about Oliver Esher's plan to build a National Theatre
-15th-16th: visits William Drown's workshop with Anthony Blunt and discovers that the panel being cleaned is by Raphael; writes about his parent's (Harold Nicolson & Vita Sackville-West) reaction to news of the discovery and his own dislike of 'being the son of a great man and woman'
-17th: dines with Jeremy Hutchinson
-18th: lunches with Isaiah Berlin who believes there will be a third World Ward between America and Russia
-19th: recounts stories told by Owen Morshead concerning George III's insanity
-23rd: writes about Anthony Blunt's 'private sense of values'
-24th: writes about his friendships with Stephen Tennant and John Pope-Hennessy
-25th: views the collection of Alphonse Kann
-30th: at Windsor Castle with Ellis Waterhouse, Anthony Blunt and Gerald Kelly
August
-10th: criticises an article his brother (Nigel Nicolson) has written about regimental discipline for Spectator magazine; James Pope-Hennessy and Maurice Jeaudrin visit Sissinghurst
-13th: spends the weekend with Eddy Sackville-West; Eardley Knollys and Desmond Shawe-Taylor at Long Crichel
-14th: spends the evening with Julia Strachey; writes about friendship
-19th: Sybil Colefax spends the weekend at Sissinghurst
-28th: spends a weekend with Stephen Tennant and other guests at Wilsford cum Lake; records that he feels 'too much at home in this society of upper-class homosexuals to be able to condemn it...'
September
-6th: discussion with Anthony Blunt about persuading the Royal Family to buy modern pictures
-11th: attends a meeting of the Picture Hanging Committee at Buckingham Palace; makes a contribution 'of the first importance' to the Exhibition; recounts a visit to Glenveagh Castle in Donegal, where he was the guest of Henry McIlhenny
-22nd: visits Sybil Colefax in hospital following a collapse
-24th: writes about the English intelligentsia, socialism and liberalism
-25th: spends an evening with Evelyn Waugh; considers the 'decadence of English intellectual life' and the legacy of current literary figures
October
-3rd: writes about Lawrence Gowing & Julia Strachey's decision to see less of each other; writes about the publication of his text 'Vermeer: Lady at the virginals, in the Royal Collection'
-21st: Graham Sutherland visits Sissinghurst and talks about painting the Crucifixion for St Matthew's Church, Northampton; King George VI and Queen Elizabeth pay an impromptu visit to the hanging of the exhibition of pictures from the Royal Collection at the Royal Academy
-24th: writes about William Coldstream, Victor Pasmore & Lawrence Gowing's refusal to exhibit work at the Royal Academy
-28th: writes about the similarities and differences between himself and Anthony Blunt
-31st: writes about Douglas Cooper, his life in Paris and his appreciation of English and modern painting
November
-8th: writes about the importance of preserving his reputation as an intellectual
-14th: attends a National Art Collections Fund (NACF) private view of the exhibition of pictures from the Royal Collection at the Royal Academy; writes about Alfred Munning's views on Picasso the Royal Academy's position as an unprogressive institution
-15th: writes about his view of women and the practice of picking up members of the Household cavalry for sex
-18th: dines with Raymond Mortimer
-20th: spends the weekend in the Isle of Wight with the Toynbee family; attends a private party at the Royal Academy given by King George VI
-28th: writes about his work as an art critic and the need to publish anonymously
December
-2nd: is given the job of Editor of the Burlington Magazine
-11th: spends the evening with a member of the Household cavalry and writes about the distinctions of the social classes
-19th: writes about his happiness; attends a party given for members of the exhibition hanging committee by Alfred Munnings at Burlington House and argues with him about Gauguin
-20th: receives a letter from Julia Strachey in which she declares she is in love with him; dines with Lawrence Gowing
1947
January
-1st: attends the unveiling of Lawrence Gowing's portrait of the Master [of Balliol]; dines with Gowing and discusses Seurat
-2nd: attends a performance of King Lear with Sybil Colefax and Maurice Bowra; writes about Stuart Hampshire and his relationship with Rene Ayre
-3rd: writes about his brother's (Nigel Nicolson) proposal of marriage to Shirley Morgan
-7th: bumps into Julia Strachey for the first time since she declared her love for him; writes about his own sexuality
-14th: writes about how his articles have been received by fellow art historians; states that there is 'poison in the art world with Oppé at one end and K[enneth Clark] at the other'
-15th: attends a party with guests including, amongst others, Clive Bell; recalls a conversation with Ellis Waterhouse about the discovery of 'a new set of facts about Charles II'
-31st: dines with Lawrence Gowing and Philip Toynbee and writes about their respective characters
February
-11th: writes about a lecture on Poussin given by Anthony Blunt
-12th: spends the afternoon and evening with Graham and Catherine Sutherland discussing 'modern English painters' and Kenneth Clark
-13th: spends the afternoon with Francis Bacon
-18th: writes about his father's (Harold Nicolson) devotion to his mother (Mary Hamilton)
-26th: writes about a conversation between Dylan Thomas and Philip Toynbee about Jesus Christ
-27th: spends an evening with Philip Toynbee; Peter Quennell; Clive Bell and Dylan Thomas, amongst others
March
-5th: divides his friends into the following categories: 'shop'; 'intellectual'; 'human'; 'sex'
-6th: lunches at the French Embassy with some 'modern French painters' including Leon Gischia
-7th: compares Derek Hill and Lawrence Gowing as painters
-10th: spends the weekend with Ellis Waterhouse and other friends in Oxford; Isaiah Berlin recalls of his time at Oxford that 'being a homosexual in 1925 was like being a Communist in 1935 - if you weren't one you had to pretend to be one'; views Waterhouse's library and photographic archive
-12th: meets Charles Morgan
-13th: spends an evening with Lawrence Gowing discussing Cezanne, imaginative realism and contemporary art criticism
-18th: socialises with Charles Morgan, Clive Bell, Brian Howard and Peter Quennell; discusses his sexuality
-19th: socialises with Cyril Connolly and reflects on his character
-21st: reflects on whether he and his immediate family are living full lives
-31st: spends the evening with Evelyn Waugh
April
-9th: writes (whilst drunk) about his feelings for Lawrence Gowing & Philip Toynbee
-11th: writes about the qualities needed to be successful in his position at the Burlington
May
-6th: spends a drunken evening with Brian Howard and Philip Toynbee; writes about his parents' [Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West] relationship with Raymond Mortimer
-9th: lunches with Paddy Lee-Fermor
-14th: writes about the ageing of his father, (Harold Nicolson) his obsession with health and his sexuality
-29th: attends a lunch hosted by an ageing, forgetful Sibyl Colefax with guests including the Duke of Windsor
June
-2nd: spends an evening with Jules Supervielle and Cyril Connolly
-8th, 16th & 18th & 27th: writes about André Gide receiving an honorary degree from Oxford University
-14th: spends an evening with Charles Morgan; compares knighthoods received by himself, Anthony Blunt and Kenneth Clark
-24th: spends the weekend with Philip Toynbee in the Isle of Wight
-26th: writes about becoming tongue-tied in Anthony Blunt's company; attends a party hosted by Kenneth Clark
July
-3rd & 7th: writes about how the idea for his proposed Bloomsbury exhibition has been received by various individuals including Clive Bell
-9th: writes about his desire to be 'led astray'
-29th: records that on a recent trip to Vallombrosa, Bernard Berenson said 'I could not love you more if you were my own son'
August
-7th: Julia Strachey recalls the life story of Dora Carrington
-11th: dines with J.B. Priestly; records a conversation with Julia Strachey
-14th: meets Lewis de Borg who recalls the methods by which he kept order in an Italian Prisoner of War camp in Yorkshire during the Second World War
-17th: writes about his brother's (Nigel Nicolson) proposed engagement
-21st: records that he has a 'wonderful new friend, Richard Wollheim'
-27th: recounts a story about Derek Hill seducing a boy of fifteen
September
-1st: writes about Peter Quennell as the 'Dorian Gray of our time'
-3rd: writes about John Pope-Hennessy and male same-sex relationships
-4th: writes that he has 'fallen rather in love with Richard Wollheim'
-8th: visits Tony Bridge
-17th: writes about the 'removal of the Burlington to Bedford Sqaure'
October:
-4th: views some 'obscene lithographs' and considers whether he has a puritanical view of sex; spends a week in Paris with Richard Wollheim
-8th-15th: recounts an episode in Paris in which Richard Wollheim gets drunk and calls him a 'disgusting homosexual'; writes about his relationship with Philip Toynbee
-17th: writes about his brother's (Nigel Nicolson) character
-21st: writes about his need to be loved and his father's (Harold Nicolson) fear of old age
-28th: socialises with Lucien Freud; spends a weekend with Isaiah Berlin & Richard Wollheim in Oxford
November:
-7th: stays with Douglas Cooper in Princes Risborough; writes about his brother's (Nigel Nicolson) marriage and fear of 'performing the sexual act'
-20th: spends the evening with Douglas Cooper with guests including, amongst others, Sonia Brownwell; discusses with Philip Toynbee the latter's latest novel
-24th: gives a lecture at the Courtauld
-26th: writes about Lawrence Gowing; Kenneth Clark; Anthony Blunt and his own happiness
December:
-3rd: writes about Derek Hill's ability as a painter
-4th: attends a dinner party at Kenneth Clark's house with Anthony Blunt and compares the two individuals
-15th: spends an evening with Johannes Wilde in Dulwich going through photographs of Titian
-16th: writes about his father's (Harold Nicolson) behaviour in society
1948
January
-1st?: attends a party with Clive Bell
-6th: writes about Brian Howard & Philip Toynbee's drunken escapades and his mother's (Vita Sackville-West) response to receiving the Order of the Companion of Honour
-8th: is castigated by John Rothenstein about a 'scandalous' letter written by Douglas Cooper about Tate, published in the Burlington Magazine
-9th: writes that Douglas Cooper is 'is determined to bring the whole world down with him'
-28th: learns about 'orgies that used to be held at Rousham near Oxford' involving Maurice Bowra, John Sparrow and Alan Pryce-Jones
-29th: lunches with Kenneth Clark & Sybil Colefax, amongst others; writes about Isaiah Berlin receiving his CBE
February
-11th: hears a story about how Cressida Bonham Carter received the news of the death of her husband, Jasper Ridley; hosts a party of the '1948 Club' attended by, amongst others, Clive Bell and Freddie Ayer
-16th: recounts a story about Lawrence Gowing, as a boy of 16, stealing books from Zimmerman's
-23rd: meets David Carritt for the first time; writes about his age and his sexuality recording that - amongst other things - 'to be aged 33 and a virgin (except for one ludicrous epiosde) is absurd'
-29th: attends a play about 'homosexual love in a public school' with John Pope-Hennessy
March
-1st: spends the weekend with Philip Toynbee, discusses - amongst other things - communism and class
-3rd: writes his diary whilst drunk after an evening with friends including - amongst others - Raymond Carr and Desmond Forbes-Aran
-6th: records that his father's (Harold Nicolson) election campaign in Croydon is not progressing well
-7th: David Sylvester reveals he is in love with Ben
-8th: writes about Richard Neville and their respective sexuality
-12th: writes about his father's (Harold Nicolson) failure in the Croydon election; meets David Piper for the first time and contemplates the young generation of art historians
-17th: writes about the rise of communism and the division between East and West Europe
-23rd: dines with Kenneth Clark & discusses his contribution to Andrew Shirley's book on Constable
-30th: spends an 'orgiastic' evening with Richard Neville who has 'too many bottles of whisky and too many guardsmen'
-31st: attends a cocktail party hosted by Douglas Cooper and, amongst others, Johannes Wilde
April
-2nd: lunches with Anthony Blunt who confesses that he 'liked men', states that Oliver Millar is 'not intelligent' and that in the next war he will 'go back to MI5'; considers the importance of being satisfied in love [A digital copy of this entry can be found below]
-5th-30th: meets David Carritt; writes about falling in love with him; attends his 21st birthday party; goes to bed with him & discusses the relationship with his friends
-9th: describes a weekend spent at Windsor with the King and Queen who discuss the future of the monarchy
-20th: views the new sculpture by Henry Moore, 'Three Figures Standing'
-26-30th: prepares for his 'ordinary' which is attended by V.S. Pritchett, Philip Toynbee and Rose Macaulay, amongst others; returns to Neville Terrace and gets very drunk with Richard Neville; lunches with Stuart Hampshire who talks about Isaiah Berlin
May
-18-20th: learns from Anthony Blunt that his post at the Burlington is not secure; spends the weekend at Sissinghurst with David Carritt where, for the first time, they have sex when sober; writes about the experience of being in love for the first time and his mother's (Vita Sackville-West) reaction to the affair
-25th: writes about his brother's (Nigel Nicolson ) first sexual liaison with a woman and the fact that he has 'sunk his whole fortune in Contact'
-28th: writes about his happiness at being in love
June
-3rd: writes about an incident of sexual assualt supposedly carried out by Norman Douglas; writes about being in love, and going to bed, with David Carritt
-7th: spends the weekend at Yafford, with Philip and Anne Toynbee, playing cricket on a team with Raymond Carr, Raymond Bonham-Carter, J.B. Priestly, Freddie Ayres, Giles Romilly, Martyn Beckett, V.S. Pritchett and Evelyn Shuckburgh.
-14th (writing about events on 8th): spends the evening at an 'orgiastic party' at Richard Neville's house with various guests and a 'troupe of boys'
-10th: attends a 'Religious Ordinary' given by Philip Toynbee and attended by, amongst others, Evelyn Waugh
-11-13th: spends the weekend in Oxford with Philip and Anne Toynbee, Isaiah Berlin and David Carritt; visits Ditchley Park and Cornbury Park with Isaiah Berlin and David Carritt
-17th: writes about having sex with David Carritt
-22nd: attends an orgiastic party at Richard Neville's
-24th: recounts an anecdote about Douglas Cooper making corrections to his volume on Braque; also recounts an anecdote about Isaiah Berlin spending the weekend at Hatfield with Churchill, the latter proclaiming that 'America and Britain will be at war with Russia before the second week of August'
25th: writes about having sex with David Carritt; expresses his views on same-sex relationships
30th: spends the evening with David Carritt, and Paddy Lee Fermor
July
5th: spends the weekend at Sissinghurst with David Carritt
8th: discusses the difference between his and David's views on same-sex relationships [A digital copy of this entry can be found below]
23rd: attends an orgiastic party thrown by Dicky Buckle; describes the days he spends with David Carritt,and the intensity of his feelings, prior to ten days of separation
|