Adrian Clark - Queer Saint--The Cultured Life of Peter Watson

W riters of biographies incur many debts. The principal debt here is to Professor Michael Shelden. He helped throughout the process, in ways which far exceeded anything one could have expected, providing information, advice, and material from his extensive Horizon-related archive. We are also very grateful to Hugo Vickers and Thomas Messel; they were extremely generous with their time and encouragement early on in this project.

Charles Rickett provided comments on Eton; as an Old Etonian himself, he saved us from committing any egregious blunders, as did Michael Meredith and Penny Hatfield from the Eton archives. Brian Sewell read Adrians early drafting notes and provided insights which helped shape his thinking on Peter Watson.

From the Watson family, we should like to thank Peter Watsons great-nephew, Alasdair Nagle, who responded with great patience and courtesy to many detailed enquiries. Sir Rodney Touche, biographer of Peters brother Sir Norman Watson, was also particularly helpful.

It is impossible to thank in detail all of the many individuals, institutions and libraries around the world that have helped. We would, however, particularly like to acknowledge the Master and Fellows of St Johns College, Cambridge, for providing access to the letters and diaries of Sir Cecil Beaton; many visits were required as we wrestled with Beatons atrocious handwriting; St Johns librarians Kathryn McKee and Mandy Marvin were exceedingly generous in giving practical help with the materials. Extracts from the letters of Lord Berners are used by permission of the Berners Trust, for which we are grateful. Information and photos were generously provided by Nancy Templeton, great niece of Waldemar Hansen. Dr Chris Fletcher, Keeper of Special Collections, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, gave permission for use of material from the Stephen Spender papers; the Estate of Stephen Spender kindly gave permission to quote from these materials and from Spenders published poems. Professor Jonathan Gosling gave permission for use of material from the Keith Vaughan archive.

Michael Riordan of St Johns College, Oxford, was very helpful in tracing Peter Watsons university career. Marc Masurovsky answered a number of enquiries on the workings of the Nazi ERR.

Vital archive material was provided by Chris Bastock (Tate Library), Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (papers of James Lord and Edith Sitwell), Michael Bloch (James Lees-Milne estate), Stephane Boudin-Lestienne (Association Villa Noailles), Ana Maria Bresciani (Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo), Sabine Coron (Sorbonne), Rebecca Daniels and Martin Harrison (Francis Bacon estate), Xavier Demolon (Tal-Coat committee), Elena Engelbrechter (Kurt Schwitters Archive), Vibeke Espholm (Nordic Library, Athens), John and Marilyn Gerry (Bushey Museum), Mary Gifford (Berners Trust), Emma Harrold (Oxford University Archives), Oliver Herford (Stephen Spender Trust), Moraiti Ionna (Benaki Museum, Athens), Stephanie Irlen (Neues Stadtmuseum, Landsberg), Christina Jansen (Scottish Gallery), Sharon-Michi Kusunoki (Edward James Foundation), Gemma McCallion (Public Record Office of Northern Ireland), Charlotte McKillop-Mash (Stephen Spender papers, Bodleian Library), Alexis Marotta (Calder Foundation), Roger Nougaret (BNP Paribas Archives), Michael Phipps (Henry Moore Foundation), Jennifer Ramkalawon (British Museum), Diana Rawstron (Lucian Freud estate), Richard Riley (John Craxton estate), Dr Maria Teresa Tosi (Fondazione Marino Marini) and Renate Wuersch (Universitt Basel).

The following kindly answered Adrians questions regarding Norman Fowlers activities in the British Virgin Islands and Nevis: Dr J. S. Archibald, Julian Clarke (who was hugely generous and helpful in particular by putting Adrian in touch with others), Steve Dickinson, John Everitt, Penny Haycraft, Vincent Hubbard, Michael ONeal, Dr Alson Percival, Christopher Varlack and Dr Pearl Varlack.

The following people also helped in all sorts of ways: Edward Allcard gave an account of his transatlantic voyage with Norman Fowler, and Alexander Fitzroy-Clarence (formerly Alex Leslie) described in fascinating detail his relationship with Peter Watson; advice, information and feedback were received from Oliver Bernard, Sandra Boselli, David Clare, Ian Collins, the late John Craxton, William Cross, Charles Duff, Anne Dunn, Patrick Elliott, William Feaver, Clive Fisher, Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, Jonathan Gibbs, Victoria Glendinning, Richard Greene, the late Richard Hamilton, Martin Hammer, Lady Selina Hastings, Gill Hedley, Anthony Hepworth, Michael Holzman, Justine Hopkins, Richard Lannoy, Jeremy Lewis, Andrew and Angela Lownie, Nigel Macdonald, Muriel Marseille, Jean-Yves Mock, Jeremy Musson, Melanie ORourke, Janetta Parlade, Antony Penrose, Michael Peppiatt, John Powell, David Pryce-Jones, John Richardson, Fred Sharf, Dr James Smith, Matthew Spender, David Taylor, Professor Mark Watson-Gandy, Francis Wheen, Professor Brian Whitton and Sofka Zinovieff.

We are both grateful to our agent, Andrew Lownie, for bringing us together, and to Anna Marx at John Blake Publishing for believing in the book.

Finally, Adrian would like to thank his long-suffering wife and daughters for putting up with the spirit of another man in the house; they now know more about Peter Watson than they could possibly want to.

Some are, and must be, greater than the rest,

More rich, more wise; but who infers from hence

That such are happier, shocks all common sense.

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, Epistle IV