Search results for ""author sandy nairne""

Why has the month of November had a special significance – a month in which I seem to have often experienced some particular, even notable, event, change, or development? Chalk it up to chance? Difficult to be sure about that.Sir Patrick Nairne led a remarkable life with a ringside view of history in the making. He fought with the Seaforth Highlanders in North Africa; worked in the post-war Admiralty and Ministry of Defence; organised the first EU Referendum in 1975; led the Department for Health and Social Security; contributed to the Falkland Islands Review Committee; monitored the consultation process in Hong Kong before the territory was handed back to China; and served as the first Chair of the Nuffield Council on bioethics.Patrick was one of the most notable British civil servants of the twentieth century, and in his later years, after being master of St Catherine’s College, Oxford, began to write about his fascinating life and career.In The Coincidence of Novembers, Patrick’s son – curator and writer Sandy Nairne – assembles his father’s writings, including autobiographical pieces from his papers, into a volume which offers a snapshot of the range of his thinking and creativity: his first-hand experience of significant events in public affairs, his watercolours, and his meditations on a life spent working for the public good.

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William Grenfell, Lord Desborough, was, for many, the epitome of the perfect English gentleman: an exceptional sportsman, a dedicated public servant and a devoted husband and father.Grenfell’s astounding sporting achievements, from climbing mountains to swimming the basin of the Niagara Falls twice, from rowing the English Channel and winning the Amateur Punting Championship for three years consecutively, to representing Great Britain in fencing, produced his deep-rooted belief in the importance of sport. It wasn’t surprising therefore that he became the driving force behind the 1908 London Olympic Games, an enormous success despite being staged with only two years’ notice.A surprisingly modern public figure, Grenfell was elected as an MP before going on to hold a prodigious array of local, national and international roles: mayor of Maidenhead, leading the London Chamber of Commerce, promoting aviation, establishing modern policing, and serving as chairman of the Thames Conservancy. Although Grenfell’s public life was successful, his family was struck by tragedy, aged six he lost his father and he and his wife Ettie suffered the loss of two sons in the First World War and their third in a motor accident. Despite this, their home, Taplow Court, was a place for entertaining and had been a focal point for the Souls, including notable politicians such as A. J. Balfour and the young Winston Churchill, as well as writers like H. G. Wells and Henry James.In Titan of the Thames, Nairne and Williams disentangle the myths surrounding this fascinating man who spans the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and have pieced together a compelling biography of a figure whose story should have been told many years ago.

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