This book could not have been written without the encouragement of Hugo Vickers, whose intelligent contributions and practical assistance were, as ever, inestimable. Of the many other people influential in the five years it has taken to retrace Noel Coward’s life and work, Graham Payn’s benediction has been invaluable. Not only did he answer any question, no matter how frank, but he also allowed me to delve into the depths of ‘Mum’s suitcase’ and the treasure-trove at Les Avants. The English representatives of the Noel Coward Estate were as helpful: Joan Hirst provided archive material and other assistance, and Michael Imison bravely read the unedited script to approve its contents. Charles Russell’s sharp contributions and the generous gift of his Noel Coward library have been exceptionally useful. Jon Wynne-Tyson enlightened me on Coward’s relationship with Esme Wynne. Mark Ashurst played tour organiser, researcher and impromptu editor with aplomb. I would also like to thank my parents, Leonard and Theresa, my sisters, Christina and Katherine, and my brother Stephen, Peter Goddard, Rob Holden, Claire Eastman, Jane Preston and Neil Tennant for their support.
Further thanks are due to Cheryl Newman, for her help with picture research, and Richard H. Smith, for copying archive prints. John Culme lent hitherto unpublished photographs from Bobbie Andrews’s album. The Streatfeild and Bulteel families were generous with information and advice. Karen Nichols of the Combined Theatrical Charities kindly gave me access to Coward’s letters to Joyce Carey, and other important material.
Finally, I would like to thank Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, for the initial inspiration and encouragement; my editor, Roger Cazalet, for elegant, intelligent and patient direction; Biddy Martin, for her sharp editing pencil; and my agent, Gillon Aitken, for his steely defence and commonsense.
The following attempts to be a comprehensive list of the people who have contributed letters, interviews and other assistance. I apologise in advance for any who might have fallen by the wayside, and hope that they do not keep a black book: Toni Allen; the late Earl Amherst; Eloise Armen; the late Maxine Audley; David Baldwin, Serjeant of the Vestry, HM Chapel Royal; Frith Banbury; Lionel Bart; Jeff Begeal; the late Lord Bessborough; Blanche Blackwell; Chris Blackwell; Sir Dirk Bogarde; Joan Booth Wilbraham; Charles Bowden; Michael Bracewell; Eric Braun; Douglas Brown; David Brett; Richard Buckle; Christopher Bulteel; Lynda Lee Burks; Peter Burton; the late Joyce Carey; Morris Cargill; John Carlyle; Theodore S. Chapin, Rodgers & Hammerstein; James Chatfield-Moore; Stephen Citron; Stephen Cole, Rodgers & Hammerstein; Bryan Connon; Audrey Dear; Her Grace the Duchess of Devonshire; Dorothy Dickson; the late Marlene Dietrich; Julian Drinkall; Martin Duberman; the late Edward Duke; Honor Earl; Mary Ellis; Meredith Etherington-Smith; Alan Farley; the late Dorothy Fellowes-Gordon; James Fergusson; the late Robert Flemyng; Michael Foot; Alistair Forbes; Charles Henri Ford; Harold French; Margaret Fulton; Mrs Valentine Gibson; Sir John Gielgud; Clare Goddard; Sam Goonetillake; Caz Gorham; Morton Gottlieb; Helen Grange; Derek Granger; Desmond Gregory; Tammy Grimes; Glynn Griffiths; Norman Hackforth; Broderick Haldane; Jane Harari; Dale Harris; John Harrison; Kitty Carlisle Hart; Tim Hart; Lady Selina Hastings; Sir Anthony Havelock-Allan; Alan Helms; Katharine Hepburn; the late Hon. David Herbert; Vicky Heseltine; Jane Hilary; Peter Hill & the Teddington Society; David Holden; Michael Holden; Horst P. Horst; Michael Imison; Lord Jenkins of Hillhead; Richard Hutto; Geoffrey Johnson; David Keeps; Ian Kelly; Gail Kendall; Michael Keneally; Willy Kerruish; Francis King; Bruce Laffey; Jillian La Vallette-Robins; Joe Layton; the late Nicholas Lawford; James Lees-Milne; the late Susan Lowndes Marques; the late Hon. Lady Lindsay of Dowhill; Bert Lister; Roddy McDowall; Sir Ian McKellen; the late Leo Maguire; Elspeth March; Anna Massey; Daniel Massey; Christopher Matheson; Peter Matz; Roy Moseley; Charlotte Mosley; Roy Nash; Grizel Niven; Patrick O’Connor; Charles Osborne; the late Anthony Pawson; Neville Phillips; John Pringle; Gary Pulsifer; the late Sir Peter Quennell; Kurt B. Reighley; Jean Roberts; Carl Rollyson; James Roose-Evans; Ned Rorem; Steve Ross; Jon Savage; Charles Scatamacchia; LTC Vincent Scatamacchia; James R. Sewell, City Archivist, Corporation of London; Helen Sheehy; Ned Sherrin; Lord Skelmersdale; Leslie Smith; Timothy d’Arch Smith; Enid Spurgin; Philip Streatfeild; Caroline Sutcliffe; Nora Swinburne; Sandy Tatham; Robert Tewdyr Moss; Major D. H. Toler, Regimental Headquarters, Coldstream Guards; Elizabeth Vickers; Gore Vidal; Dominic Vlasto; the late Peter Wadland; David Wainwright; Tony Warren; Auberon Waugh; Robert Wennersten; Roy Williams; Diana Windsor Richards; Patrick Woodcock; Lucia and Dan Woods Lindley; Jon and Jennifer Wynne-Tyson.
For permission to publish new material: The Noel Coward Estate; Jon Wynne-Tyson, for the letters, diaries and literary works of Esme Wynne-Tyson; Her Grace the Duchess of Devonshire, for use of Noel Coward’s letters to Nancy Mitford; The Combined Theatrical Charities, for use of Noel Coward’s letters to Joyce Carey; Diana Marr-Johnson and Peter Burton, for use of Robin Maugham’s diaries; the executors of the Literary Estate of Cecil Beaton; and the British Library Department of Manuscripts for papers of the Lord Chamberlain’s office.
I would also like to acknowledge the use of material from the following institutions, and thank the curators and librarians involved: Sophie Cant and the Keeper of the Archives, Churchill College, Cambridge; Elizabeth Inglis, Manuscript Librarian, University of Sussex Library; Glenise Matheson, John Tuck and Dr Peter McNiven, The John Rylands University Library, University of Manchester; Gaye Poulton, Random House; Michael Bott, Archivist, University of Reading Library; Wendy Bowersock, Barbara Smith-LaBorde and the Harry C. Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin; Lori Curtis, Department of Special Collections, MacFarlin Library, University of Tulsa. The staff of the Billy Rose Collection at Lincoln Center, and the staff of the Theatre Museum Study Room, Covent Garden, have supplied countless press cuttings and other source material. The continued existence of their resources is essential to the production of books such as this.
Philip Hoare
Shoreditch, 1996