There has never been another American interloper quite like Sir Henry ‘Chips’ Channon, who married a Guinness heiress and became both an MP and the darling of London society.
But perhaps even Channon would have been astonished that his Diaries — now published in unexpurgated form for the first time — would inspire frenzied debate more than eight decades after he wrote them.
One entry — for November 19, 1936 — is generating particular excitement. This now records not just that ‘tiaras nodded [and] diamonds sparkled’ at the dinner party Channon and his wife held for Edward VIII at their house in London’s Belgravia, but also the King’s startlingly modern turn of phrase when, after dinner, he announced that he needed to relieve himself.
‘At length he rose, and said: ‘I want to pump s***’,’ reads the newly published edition, ‘and I led His Majesty to our loulou! He proceeded to pass water without shutting the door, talking to me the while.’
There has never been another American interloper quite like Sir Henry ‘Chips’ Channon (pictured with Lady Honor Guinness leaving St Margaret’s Westminster in 1933), who married a Guinness heiress and became both an MP and the darling of London society
Pictured: The Duke of Windsor at his temporary home in Ashdown Forest, Sussex
This has prompted broadcaster and writer Libby Purves to argue that the King had in fact said ‘pump ship’, meaning to urinate — an expression, she says, which is ‘still common among naval and yachting types’.
Purves’s interjection has caused the Diaries’ editor, Simon Heffer, to re-inspect Channon’s work. ‘I got the senior trustee to send me a photograph of that page of the manuscript,’ he tells me. ‘It’s a ‘T’ and not a ‘P’.’ Heffer adds that he has ‘no naval connections’ and so was unfamiliar with the sea-dog slang: ‘I didn’t know it and Chips obviously didn’t know it either.
‘He probably thought that because the King was saying he wanted to go to the lavatory, it was ‘pump s***’. Whether he misheard or misunderstood I don’t know. I’m sure that Edward VIII did not say ‘pump s***’; I’m sure he said ‘pump ship’. It means that the just published hardback edition is destined to become a collector’s item.
‘When we get round to the paperback, we’ll change it — for the avoidance of doubt – and include an explanatory footnote along the lines of: ‘This is what Chips wrote, and he may well have misheard,’ ‘ says Heffer.
‘But at the moment we’re leaving it as it is.’
Hugh Bonneville and Keeley Hawes portray Roald Dahl and his wife in the recently released film To Olivia.
But will Hawes be socially distancing herself from Bonneville after he made an edgy quip about her ubiquity on Ed Vaizey’s podcast Break Out Culture?
‘I am a massive Keeley Hawes fan partly because I can’t turn on the television without seeing something Keeley Hawes is in,’ declared Lord Vaizey.
Bonneville replied: ‘She’s everywhere! I call her Covid now.’
A city high-flyer with nine children, Dame Helena Morrissey has earned her ‘Supermum’ soubriquet. Now she has written a book for women on how to emulate her success — and, surprisingly, pink lipstick plays a big part.
‘Women are often told to act like men and blend in, but I feel that sells us short,’ she tells me.
‘Fashion is a significant part of it. It seems frivolous but it isn’t,’ insists Helena, whose book, Style And Substance, will be published in October.
‘Women should be able to discuss pink lipstick at work in the way men talk about football. It’s having the confidence to get on with the job and using all the tools at your disposal.’
Pop star Ellie Goulding, who sang at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding reception, decries the fact that women are being taught ‘safety tips’ to combat harassment
Pop star Ellie Goulding, who sang at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding reception, decries the fact that women are being taught ‘safety tips’ to combat harassment.
‘I’ve trained in martial arts and often get blokes jokily saying, ‘I wouldn’t mess with you’, and I still feel totally unsafe at night,’ says the 33-year-old, who is eight months pregnant with her first child with Old Etonian husband Caspar Jopling.
‘It is not about prevention from our side, but prevention from theirs. This starts with ‘harmless things’ like staring at a woman in the street or whistling or pursuing a woman who doesn’t want to be pursued. The solution is ultimately in a total change of behaviour from the perpetrators.
The Duke of Rutland’s eldest daughter, Lady Violet Manners, has criticised Harry and Meghan for attacking the royals so publicly
The Duke of Rutland’s eldest daughter, Lady Violet Manners, has criticised Harry and Meghan for attacking the royals so publicly.
‘No one is denying how sad their truths and reality sounded, but they should have behaved with integrity and discretion as so clearly displayed by his grandmother and our Queen,’ says the model and socialite, 27 (above). ‘You would hope with all their travel, experience and mental health charity involvement, they’d have the life experience to see their troubles through a lens of perspective.
‘But apparently not. Lambasting family in public is never the solution, just a cry for attention, and for what gains is unclear.’
Actress Gillian Anderson, who split from The Crown writer Peter Morgan last year before he had an affair with filmmaker Jemima Goldsmith, has decided her affection now comes at a price.
The 52-year-old reveals she has designed a new range of colourful scarves for the fashion label Winser London, which cost £159 each and feature huge red lips on them — echoing her previous line of jumpers.
‘This time you can have my lips on your neck,’ jokes Gillian.
As Lady Sybil in Downton Abbey, Jessica Brown Findlay played a forward-thinking aristocrat who died a terrible death in childbirth
As Lady Sybil in Downton Abbey, Jessica Brown Findlay played a forward-thinking aristocrat who died a terrible death in childbirth.
But her acting career has gone from strength to strength, with her now declaring that reserves in her business rocketed by £400,000 last year to £650,000 after creditors were paid, up from £265,000 the previous year. She has been much in demand, with leading roles in TV drama Harlots and The Banishing film, released last year.
The star got married to fellow Harlots actor Ziggy Heath in September with just 30 guests. ‘It was wonderful — low-key and micro,’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t change anything about it.’