{"title":"Chips Channon","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe writings of Chips Channon offer an intimate glimpse into a bygone era through his detailed diaries. Readers can expect vivid accounts filled with personal reflections and observations that bring the social and political landscape of the time to life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese volumes serve as both a memoir and a historical record, capturing the nuances of daily life and notable events with candour and nuance. They are a compelling read for those drawn to first-hand perspectives in biography and memoir.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"henry-chips-channon-the-diaries-volume-1-by-chips-channon-9781529159318","title":"Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Diaries (Volume 1)","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Sunday Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestselling edition of Chips Channon's remarkable diaries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'The greatest British diarist of the 20th century. An astonishing achievement. By turns frivolous and profound.'\u003c\/em\u003e – Ben Macintyre, \u003cem\u003eThe Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Wickedly entertaining.'\u003c\/em\u003e – Andrew Marr, \u003cem\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'An irresistible, saucy read . . . One of the most impressive editions of our time.'\u003c\/em\u003e – \u003cem\u003eThe Telegraph\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'They're among the most glittering and enjoyable diaries ever written'\u003c\/em\u003e – \u003cem\u003eObserver\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBorn in Chicago in 1897, 'Chips' Channon settled in England after the Great War, married into the immensely wealthy Guinness family, and served as Conservative MP for Southend-on-Sea from 1935 until his death in 1958. His career was unremarkable. His diaries are quite the opposite.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eElegant, gossipy and bitchy by turns, they are the unfettered observations of a man who went everywhere and who knew everybody. Whether describing the antics of London society in the interwar years, or the growing scandal surrounding his close friends Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson during the abdication crisis, or the mood in the House of Commons in the lead-up to the Munich crisis, his sense of drama and his eye for the telling detail are unmatched. These are diaries that bring a whole epoch vividly to life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46372087333100,"sku":"9781529159318","price":36.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12014903482732.jpg?v=1744815701"},{"product_id":"henry-chips-channon-the-diaries-volume-2-by-chips-channon-9781529160215","title":"Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Diaries (Volume 2)","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"The greatest British diarist of the 20th century... finally, we are getting the full text, in all its bitchy, scintillating detail\" - \u003cem\u003eBen Macintyre\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"A masterpiece - a time machine that transports the reader back to British politics and high society at the end of the 1930s.\" - \u003cem\u003eRobert Harris\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"An unrivalled guide to the social and political life of Britain in the first half of the 20th century.\" - \u003cem\u003eBooks of the Year, The Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Fascinating.\" - \u003cem\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Never a dull day, never a dull sentence.\" - \u003cem\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe political career of Conservative MP Henry 'Chips' Channon (1897-1958) was unremarkable. His diaries are quite the opposite. Witty, gossipy, and bitchy by turns, they are the unfettered observations of a man who went everywhere and knew everyone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis second of three volumes opens in October 1938 with Channon optimistically believing that his hero Neville Chamberlain can stave off a general European conflagration. It closes with the expression of his hope that Mussolini's fall from power in July 1943 means \"The war must be more than half over\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the intervening pages, he charts diplomatic to-ings and fro-ings and political manoeuvring, hatches a plan to keep Yugoslavia in the Allied camp, dines with English high society and foreign royalty, and passes not-always-charitable judgements on contemporaries who range from Winston Churchill and General de Gaulle to Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde's erstwhile lover Lord Alfred Douglas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46372089823468,"sku":"9781529160215","price":26.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12023873482732.jpg?v=1744815774"},{"product_id":"henry-chips-channon-the-diaries-volume-3-1943-57-by-chips-channon-9781529151725","title":"Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Diaries (Volume 3): 1943-57","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe third and final volume of the \u003cem\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestselling diaries of Sir Henry 'Chips' Channon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis third and final volume of the unexpurgated diaries of Sir Henry 'Chips' Channon begins as the Second World War is turning in the Allies' favour. It ends with Chips descending into poor health but still able to turn a pointed phrase about the political events that swirl around him and the great and the good with whom he mingles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThroughout these final fourteen 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. His energies, though, are increasingly absorbed by a private life that at times reaches Byzantine levels of complexity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe encounter the London of the theatre and the cinema, peopled by such figures as John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr, as well as seemingly endless grand parties at which Chips might well rub shoulders with Cecil Beaton, the Mountbattens, or any number of dethroned European monarchs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHe has been described as 'The greatest British diarist of the 20th century'. This final volume fully justifies that accolade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46372091003116,"sku":"9781529151725","price":86.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/11938973482732.jpg?v=1744815840"},{"product_id":"henry-chips-channon-the-diaries-volume-3-1943-57-by-chips-channon-9781529158885","title":"Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Diaries (Volume 3): 1943-57","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe third and final volume of the remarkable Sunday Times bestselling diaries of Sir Henry 'Chips' Channon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'An utterly addictive glimpse of London high society and politics in the 40s and 50s.'\u003c\/em\u003e – Robert Harris\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'An instant classic . . . quite simply the greatest social and political diaries of the 20th century.'\u003c\/em\u003e – Daily Telegraph\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Rich, exuberant, copious and shatteringly honest.'\u003c\/em\u003e – Spectator\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'A scurrilous read. Fascinating. Gripping!'\u003c\/em\u003e – Alan Titchmarsh\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Chips writes with such vividness that one feels one is living each day in his exalted company.'\u003c\/em\u003e – The Oldie\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe political career of Conservative MP Henry 'Chips' Channon (1897-1958) was unremarkable. His diaries are quite the opposite. Witty, gossipy and bitchy by turns, they are the unfettered observations of a man who went everywhere and knew everyone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis third and final volume begins as the Second World War is turning in the Allies' favour. It closes with Chips slowly descending into poor health but striving to remain socially active. En route, we see him assiduously record the tribulations of both Labour and Conservative governments in parliament, gossip about the private lives of the great and the good, and conduct passionate affairs with a young army officer and the playwright Terence Rattigan, while being serially unfaithful to both. Throughout, he confirms his position as 'the greatest British diarist of the 20th century'.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46372092313836,"sku":"9781529158885","price":36.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12010573482732.jpg?v=1744815904"},{"product_id":"henry-chips-channon-the-diaries-volume-2-by-chips-channon-9781786331823","title":"Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Diaries (Volume 2)","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe greatest British diarist of the 20th century . . . finally, we are getting the full text, in all its bitchy, scintillating detail\u003c\/em\u003e — Ben Macintyre\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe second volume of the remarkable, \u003cem\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestselling diaries of Chips Channon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA masterpiece - a time machine that transports the reader back to British politics and high society at the end of the 1930s.\u003c\/em\u003e — Robert Harris\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe uncensored, unvarnished thought of one of the 20th century's greatest diarists.\u003c\/em\u003e - Best Biographies of the Year, \u003cem\u003eTelegraph\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAn unrivalled guide to the social and political life of Britain in the first half of the 20th century.\u003c\/em\u003e Books of the Year, \u003cem\u003eThe Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFascinating.\u003c\/em\u003e — \u003cem\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNever a dull day, never a dull sentence.\u003c\/em\u003e — \u003cem\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis second volume of the bestselling diaries of Henry 'Chips' Channon takes us from the heady aftermath of the Munich agreement, when the Prime Minister so admired by Chips was credited with having averted a general European conflagration, through the rapid unravelling of appeasement, and on to the tribulations of the early years of the Second World War. It closes with a moment of hope, as Channon, in recording the fall of Mussolini in July 1943, reflects, \u003cem\u003e'The war must be more than half over.'\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor much of this period, Channon is genuinely an eyewitness to unfolding events. He reassures Neville Chamberlain as he fights for his political life in May 1940. He chats to Winston Churchill while the two men inspect the bombed-out chamber of the House of Commons a few months later. From his desk at the Foreign Office he charts the progress of the war. But with the departure of his boss 'Rab' Butler to the Ministry of Education, and Channon's subsequent exclusion from the corridors of power, his life changes — and with it the preoccupations and tone of the diaries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe conduct of the war remains a constant theme, but more personal preoccupations come increasingly to the fore. As he throws himself back into the pleasures of society, he records his encounters with the likes of Noel Coward, Prince Philip, General de Gaulle and Oscar Wilde's erstwhile lover Lord Alfred Douglas. He describes dinners with members of European royal dynasties, and recounts gossip and scandal about the great, the good and the less good. And he charts the implosion of his marriage and his burgeoning, passionate friendship with a young officer on Wavell's staff.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese are diaries that bring a whole epoch vividly to life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47486107943148,"sku":"9781786331823","price":90.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/52da37bc80fdb59380cbc8cf3cfc1123.jpg?v=1775788750"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/chips-channon.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}