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Hutchinson Heinemann has landed the third and final volume of Henry “Chips” Channon’s unexpurgated diaries.
Nigel Wilcockson, associate publisher, acquired world rights from Georgina Capel at Georgina Capel Associates. The third volume will be published on 8th September 2022.
Volumes one and two, covering 1918 to 1943, were published in 2021. A heavily abridged and expurgated one-volume edition of the diaries was previously published in 1967. Now the trustees of the Sir Henry Channon diaries and papers, through Capel, have authorised their uncensored publication, edited by Professor Simon Heffer.
“In their heavily redacted form Chips Channon’s diaries were often described as the leading such document of the 20th-century,” said Heffer. “That judgement is even sounder when one reads the complete manuscript. They will be of the greatest value to historians of the period, because they shed additional light on episodes about which we thought we knew everything. And they paint the most vivid picture imaginable of high society in perhaps its most decadent phase. The only difficulty for the editor is deciding what can possibly be left out.”
The third volume begins as the Second World War is turning in the Allies’ favour and it ends with Channon’s descent into poor health. Channon’s “elegant, gossipy” diaries share unfiltered observations on the antics of London society and machinations of politicians from the 1920s to the 1950s. "These are diaries that bring a whole epoch vividly to life," the publisher said.
Wilcockson commented: “Throughout these final 14 years Chips assiduously describes events in and around Westminster, gossiping about individual MPs’ ambitions and indiscretions, but also rising powerfully to the occasion to capture the mood of the house on VE Day or the ceremony of George VI’s funeral. Much of the pleasure of reading the diaries, though, lies in the vicarious thrill of eavesdropping on a private life that at times reaches Byzantine levels of complexity, involving, as it does, a divorce, a passionate affair with an army officer, and an equally passionate affair with the playwright Terence Rattigan.”
The trustees added: “We are delighted that, more than 60 years after Chips’ death, this priceless historical document can be made available to a wider public; and that the passage of time means that it can be presented with the candour and historical integrity it richly merits. We are sure readers will be particularly fascinated – as we have been – by the content of Volume III, notably Chips’ reflections on the new era and reign of the young Elizabeth II, and his insights into London’s theatre world, in which he immerses himself with great enthusiasm.”