Are They the Same at Home by Beverley Nichols was first published in 1927 but my copy dates from 1933. It’s a collection of short articles most of which were published in The Sketch, and they’re all about people who were well-known back in the day. I suppose nowadays they would be classed as celebrities. However, a fair few of them are certainly unknown to me, mainly actors or musicians whose star didn’t burn as long as some people’s have.
It seems that most of his subjects were people he knew socially, but sometimes he was sent to interview someone he hadn’t met before. I had expected these wee sketches to be quite snarky as Nichols was fairly well known for being quite acerbic – not to say downright snobby, but he could be very witty with it. There’s not an awful lot in the way of wit in this book, but I was interested to read his thoughts on quite a lot of the people, such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Margaret Kennedy, Arnold Bennett, E.F. Benson, Anthony Hope, Rose Macaulay, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Somerset Maugham and a very young Noel Coward. Yes, they’re almost all writers, but people like Diaghileff, Gerald du Maurier, Duff Cooper, Dame Nellie Melba, Suzanne Lenglen (tennis player according to Jack!) also appear in this collection. In all there are 61 articles from The Sketch. I can’t say I found it riveting reading, some I just skimmed over as I had never heard of them and they didn’t seem that interesting, I think you would have to have been there in 1927 to appreciate those ones.
I’ve really enjoyed quite a lot of books by Beverley Nichols, especially the ones he wrote about his various houses and gardens over the years.
This book was one of my 20 Books of Summer 2022. I’m glad I got around to reading it at last as it has been languishing on a shelf for a few years now.
Katrina,
This book sounds like an absolute gem!
I read one Beverly Nichols book, in which he writes about his gardens and gardening, which I found out about from you. It was quite funny, really. I enjoyed it.
How interesting this one sounds!
You are doing extremely well with your 20 Books of Summer, aren’t you?
Judith,
I think I ony have a couple of books from the 20 Books of Summer still to read, but I have read others too which weren’t on the list. When it was really hot here, by our standards, I couldn’t do anything else but read!
Whoa–do I ever know what you mean!
This weekend we reached 87 degrees on Saturday with extremely high humidity, and 85 today, and all I did both days was read. Great weather for plowing through lots of books! The only good thing that can be said about it.
Judith,
Our hot weather is back, and will be with us all week. It’s too hot and bright to do any gardening. I think I’ll definitely be finishing my 20 Books of Summer list!