Father Dear Father - Softcover

Wyatt, Petronella

4

7 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099297604 ISBN 13: 9780099297604

Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd, 2000

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Petronella Wyatt writes: 'The eccentricities of my father, Lord (Woodrow) Wyatt (1918-1997), are a legend. I, his only daughter, was required to participate in his astonishing behaviour with all the enthusiasm I could muster. This resulted in a childhood of a kind unknown to the late 20th-century - a mixture of Edwardian extravagance, Victorian whimsicality and a vivid 18th-century haute sophistication. 'Father was the last of the old school. Described by his friend and former political rival Roy Jenkins as 'the ultimate original', he was a politician, writer, race-horse owner, womaniser and bon vivant - a unique product of pre-war English civilisation. His career ensured him a varied circle of friends. I grew up with such companions as Harold Macmillan, Margaret Thatcher, Rupert Murdoch, Robin Day, Sir James Goldsmith, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, the Duke of Devonshire and much of Debrett's Peerage. 'Each chapter of the book will contain personal and historically important anecdotes about the famous that have never before appeared in print and which will generate considerable news coverage. What I am writing is a waspish social document - irreverent, satirical, dramatic and scandalous, disclosing how the privileged enjoy their privileges

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Review:

The legendary eccentricities of Woodrow Wyatt (1918-1997) are recounted by Petronella, his only daughter in Father, Dear Father. The result portrays a childhood rarely encountered in the late 20thcentury: a mixture of Edwardian extravagance, Victorian whimsicality and a vivid 18th-century haute sophistication, never bogged down with excessive self-analysis.

Described by his friend Roy Jenkins as "the ultimate original", Woodrow Wyatt was a politician (a Labour MP from a Conservative family who eventually gravitated towards Thatcherism), prolific writer, racing enthusiast, womaniser and bon vivant. Kingsley Amis helped the young Petronella with her homework (and received a B minus), the Queen Mother recommended her martinis to steady teenage nerves and Robin Day ruined her school sports day by sitting with her father on the finishing line. Other stories are hand-me-downs from Woodrow himself of his encounters with an unusual range of acquaintances and friends, from Gandhi and Churchill to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Here he is throwing Goebbels' shoes down a lift shaft in Berlin, teasing General de Gaulle, reciting bawdy limericks to Elizabeth Taylor, writing love poetry to Margaret Thatcher.

Father, Dear Father is a sparkling series of episodes crisply and engagingly narrated. With its clipped romanticism, Wyatt the younger's tone is an anachronism in these times of inter-generational accusations.

In Father, Dear Father, the author remains, as she was in his life, in her father's long shadow, perhaps because she cannot bring herself to condemn her beloved though flawed father; perhaps because she wants to keep him the focus of this book rather than herself.Father, Dear Father is a must for admirers of Woodrow Wyatt and those who enjoy a sharp, irreverent and amusing foray into the lives of the great and good. --Fiona Buckland

Review:

"A rollicking comic memoir" - "TLS "The girl can write." - "Independent

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