Beverley Nichols (International) assertion Beverley Nichols i(A60376 works by) (a.k.a. John Beverley Nichols)
Born: Established: 9 Sep 1898 Bristol,
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England,
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United Kingdom (UK),
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Western Europe, Europe,
; Died: Ceased: 15 Sep 1983
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England,
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United Kingdom (UK),
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Western Europe, Europe,

Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

'Precocious and multi-faceted talent' made English writer Beverley Nichols 'a celebrity by the time he was old enough to attend Oxford University. His first novel, Prelude, was written before his eighteenth birthday; his second, Patchwork, was published before he finished his degree. While in school he founded a literary magazine, the Oxford Outlook, and edited it along with an already-established magazine, Isis. He was president of the famous Oxford Union Debating Society and was also known as a gifted pianist. Following school, he quickly established a reputation as a brilliant and daring interviewer and journalist. "Witty, elegant, and ruinously good-looking," according to the London Times, he was an intimate of Noel Coward, Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw, D. H. Lawrence, and Somerset Maugham (qq.v.), among others. His sparkling wit and his connections made him a natural candidate for the job of columnist for the Sunday Chronicle, and for fourteen years he filled page two of that newspaper with "glossy gossip and name-dropping anecdotes".'

According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Nichols travelled to Australia in 1924 to ghostwrite Dame Nellie Melba's memoir, Melodies and Memories (1925).

(Sources: Contemporary Authors Online; Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • The June 1932 issue of The Home notes that Beverley Nichols 'came to Australia with Dame Nellie Melba in 1924. The object of his visit was to collate the material for the great singer's autobiography, Melodies and Memories...Mr Beverley Nichols has impressed the English public that he is the authority on the art and life of Melba. He has, now the famous singer has passed away, written a novel, Evensong. Knowing the psychology of the reading public, this young man must have known that the world in general would accept this as a picture of the singer. He knows how to "épater" his public. The temptation is too great, he plans, and waits his opportunity. The great singer passes - et voilà - it is ready, hot from the printing press - not to miss the market. All the characters in this book are fictitious!...But I am afraid the author knew full well he would reap the benefit of a success at the expense of his dead patron.' (appears in topical column, 'This, That and Them' by London correspondent T. H. Cochran)
Last amended 10 Sep 2013 11:41:35
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