Michael Holroyd’s biographies have enriched my life – filling it with a strange cast of eccentric characters with whom I now feel an intimate acquaintance. Lytton Strachey, Augustus John, Ellen Terry brought to life in all their struggles and triumphs, in all their absurdity and glory. His biography of Lytton Strachey became the template for the equally wonderful and much underrated film ‘Carrington.’
Holroyd’s eye is one of humane amusement – clearsighted but never judgemental – only as critical as a good friend might be.
An example of his sparkling prose:
“Her first marriage, a distressing experience involving an umbrella, had to be annulled.”
I was lucky enough to hear him speak at a literary festival some years ago. They say you should never meet your heroes, but this proved the exception. He was just as witty and compassionate as his writing suggests.
Here he is, in a room as reassuringly chaotic as mine, talking about his writing space. A bust of Lytton Strachey looks on!
