Diana Cooper by Philip Ziegler

Author:Philip Ziegler [Philip Ziegler]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571279746
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2011-09-07T04:00:00+00:00

He kept his word at least so far as the boat and the puffer were concerned. Throughout his absence Diana suffered agonies lest disaster overtake him. John Julius unwittingly fed her fears by seeking to appease them. ‘Papa will come back,’ he reassured her earnestly. ‘I know he will.’

Some of Diana’s more ambitious expeditions took place under the wing of Lord Beaverbrook. In 1927 she visited Germany with him, Venetia Montagu, Valentine Castlerosse and Arnold Bennett. Gross in appetite and appearance, with nimble wit concealed beneath buffoon’s exterior, Lord Castlerosse was Beaverbrook’s court jester. ‘What is your handicap?’ Nancy Cunard asked him on the golf-course. ‘Drink and debauchery,’ he answered sadly but correctly. Arnold Bennett was shocked by the coarseness of the conversation between Beaverbrook and Castlerosse in front of the women – ‘I mean physical love’ – and did his best to curb it. His gallantry was appreciated but not called-for; in Berlin, while he sought out a play by Bertold Brecht, Diana and Venetia went off with Castlerosse on a tour of the transvestite night-clubs. Bennett liked the two women. They ‘really do their best to be agreeable and very well succeed, though Venetia has a darting tongue. However, with her stings, she really is witty. Diana less so, but Diana is kinder. We called in at the most footling party I ever was at last night, and Diana threw herself into the total inanity and tedium in a manner which proves she has a very serious sense of human duty.’ Bennett was determined to go to Tristan and Diana seconded his efforts. ‘The women know about music because it seems to be somehow their job to be companionable in everything, and they must have taken the hell of a lot of pains to be so, and I think they may be mildly interested.’

Sefton Delmer, then a junior stringer for the Express in Berlin, was summoned to the Hotel Adlon. He found Bennett ‘sardonic, silent and sallow’, Castlerosse ‘fat, flushed and chortling’, Venetia ‘gracious, erect and smiling’ and Diana ‘brilliant, brittle and blonde, with the palest watery blue eyes’. They were in Berlin, he gathered, in connection with some film which Bennett was to write, Beaverbrook finance and Diana star in. In fact the idea was no more than an idle fantasy which none of those concerned wished to pursue with vigour.

A few years later came another expedition, this time to Brazil. Castlerosse was again in the party and this time Beaverbrook’s mistress, Jean Norton. Things went wrong even before they set off, with Diana determined not to fly over the Andes but equally determined not to be the scapegoat for the others. She was quite happy to remain behind in Rio while the others flew wherever they desired. Jean Norton begged her to be more cooperative. ‘Max doesn’t the least want to fly, is very frightened of it, but must be allowed to say it’s my fault that they didn’t soar over the Andes.’

Beaverbrook was cantankerous from the start.

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