Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Diaries (Volume 1): 1918-38

Written by Chips Channon

Narrated by Tom Ward

Brought to you by Penguin.

Born 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. Elegant, 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.

A heavily abridged and censored edition of the diaries was published in 1967. Only now, sixty years after Chips's death, can the text be shared in all its glory.

© Chips Channon 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cornerstone Digital
• Release date: Apr 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781473596740

Reviews for Henry ‘Chips’ Channon

[ponsonby_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This first volume of the virtually complete diaries is a considerable expansion of the expurgarted version published many years ago. It chronicles in enormous detail Channon's social ascent first in France and then more significantly in England to 1938. His comments on all those around him (and he knew virtually everyone in 'smart' society in 'thirties England) are perceptive and frank. He himself does not always come out too well, as he makes little effort to hide his faults, both those he would have acknowledged at the time and also those which now seem more reprehensible than would have been the case then. Although thrilled to be in politics at a junior level, his political perceptions were often inaccurate and too much swayed by his tendency to idolise certain people. The diaries are also fascinating for the view they give of sexual relations at that level of society, which both straight and gay, were far more free than in other levels.
Some endearing quirks shine through: his inability to get anyone's age right (corrected in the manifold footnotes); his revulsion for his own countrymen; his frank love of money and the 'bibelots' he bought so often. His energy must have been prodigious, so hectic was his life, even if his actual contribution to the good of society almost nil.

[ericjt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I bought this on the basis of some excellent press reviews, despite some hesitation about the likely attitude and comments by the diarist. In fact I found it unexpectedly fascinating. Channon had a social and financial background so different from mine, and moved in such totally different social and political circles, that it read almost like science fiction!
Nevertheless, I was sufficiently intrigued by his account of politics in the pre-war years to buy the second volume.
Frankly bisexual as well as a far rightwing enthusiast, his comments on individuals were sometimes extremely frank, sexually as well as politically, and I can see why publication of this (almost) unexpurgated volume was delayed.

I noticed that reviewers had radically different attitudes to the editor's voluminous biographical footnotes, but on balance I found them useful. If you don't, just ignore them.