James Lees-Milne (1908--97) -- known to friends as Jim -- is remembered for his work for the National Trust, rescuing some of England's greatest architectural treasures, and for the vivid and entertaining diaries which have earned him a reputation as 'the twentieth-century Pepys'. In this long-awaited biography, Michael Bloch portrays a life rich in contradictions, in which an unassuming youth overtook more dazzling contemporaries to emerge as a leading figure in the fields of conservation and letters. It describes Jim's bisexual love life, his tempestuous marriage to the exotic Alvilde, and his friendship with other fascinating literary figures including John Betjeman, Robert Byron, Rosamond Lehmann, and the Mitford sisters (whose brother Tom had been Jim's great love at Eton). It depicts a man who was romantically attached to the England of his childhood and felt out of tune with his own times, but who left an enduring legacy through the preservation of country houses and his eloquent chronicling of a dying world.
- ISBN10 0719560349
- ISBN13 9780719560347
- Publish Date 3 September 2009
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 28 March 2011
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher John Murray Press
- Imprint John Murray Publishers Ltd
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 416
- Language English