Essex’s hat-trick with salacious diaries

Essex with a slide of Channon

Our speaker at this month’s meeting at the Wheatsheaf was the Earl of Essex. Not only has Essex given more talks to the club than anyone else, but he also holds the record for addressing the same subject repeatedly—this was his third instalment on the diaries of Henry "Chips" Channon, this time covering the period 1938–43. “As Clayton reminded me, this is my third talk on the subject,” he began, “and I have been overwhelmed by the messages from members of the New Sheridan Club. But despite all that, I have decided to go ahead with the talk anyway.”

Channon was Permanent Private Secretary to rising Conservative minister Rab Butler, as well as MP for Southend. The unexpurgated version of the diary was recently published for the first time, so we got to hear not only his views on the politics and political figures of the time, but about all of Channon's extramarital affairs, the disintegration of his marriage to heiress Honor Guinness and his waspish snipes, for example at those he considers "common" and also those he considers snobs. Having backed appeasement and pledged his loyalty to Neville Chamberlain, Channon's star is inevitably in the descendent in this period, and with Churchill's rise Channon's political career is in its twilight. Thanks to Essex for the talk and for keeping it to a tight 45 minutes—quite an achievement given the overwhelming mass of raw material in the diaries.

You can see photos from the meeting at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sheridanclub/albums/72177720298064822.

Priya Kalia with Member Luigi Sbaffi (right) and Luigi’s brother Lorenzo, who was visiting from Italy