Nigel Nicolson

Nigel Nicolson
Nigel Nicolson
Member of Parliament
for Bournemouth East and Christchurch
In office
1952–1959
Preceded by Brendan Bracken
Succeeded by John Cordle
Personal details
Born 19 January 1917(1917-01-19)
182 Ebury Street, London
Died 23 September 2004(2004-09-23) (aged 87)
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) Philippa Tennyson-d'Eyncourt

Nigel Nicolson OBE (19 January 1917 – 23 September 2004) was a British writer, publisher and politician.

Contents

Biography

Nicolson was the son of the writers Sir Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West; he had a brother Ben, later an art historian. The boys grew up in Kent, first near their mother's ancestral home at Knole and then at Sissinghurst Castle, where their parents created a famous garden. Nicolson was sent to board at Summer Fields, a prep school in Oxford; Eton College; and Balliol College, Oxford. He served with the Grenadier Guards during World War II, later writing their official history.

Nicolson wrote many books and founded with George Weidenfeld the firm Weidenfeld and Nicolson, of which he was a director from 1948 to 1992. He also worked as a broadcaster and was a member of the Ancient Monuments Board.

Although his father had been first a National Labour and then a Labour politician, Nigel Nicolson became active in the Conservative Party and contested Leicester North West in 1950 and Falmouth and Camborne in 1951, without success. He was elected Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East and Christchurch at a by-election in February 1952, when the previous MP, Brendan Bracken, was elevated to the House of Lords. Nicolson was re-elected in the seat in the general election of May 1955. However, he was uncomfortable within the Tory party and voted with Labour to abolish hanging and abstained in a vote of confidence in the government over the Suez War. His constituency association called for him to resign and wrote to the Prime Minister briefing against their MP. A ballot of members was called. Unfortunately for Nicolson, a scandal relating to his publishing interests broke at the same time — the company's publication of Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita. Nicolson lost the members' vote and was forced to step down at the general election of October 1959.[1]

Nicolson returned to writing, particularly on heritage and biography. He co-wrote a celebrated 1973 book on his parents, Portrait of a Marriage. It balanced a frank account of his bisexual parents' extramarital affairs (especially Vita Sackville-West's 'elopement' with Violet Trefusis) with their enduring love for each other; it caused an uproar when it was published. He also edited his father's diaries and, with Joanne Trautmann, the letters of Virginia Woolf. Later he wrote The Spectator's Long Life column and a Time of My Life column for The Sunday Telegraph. His autobiography, Long Life, was published in 1997.

In 1953 Nicolson married Philippa, the daughter of Sir Gervais Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, and they had two daughters, Rebecca, a publisher, Juliet, a historian, and a son, Adam, a writer. They divorced in 1970.

Bibliography

  • The Grenadier Guards in the War of 1939–1945 (1949) with Patrick Forbes
  • Lord of the Isles (1960) on Lord Leverhulme
  • People and Parliament (1958)
  • The United Nations: A Reply to Its Critics (1963)
  • Sissinghurst Castle (1964)
  • Great Houses of Britain (1965)
  • Diaries & Letters of Harold Nicolson (1966-8) three volumes, editor
  • Great Houses of The Western World (1968)
  • Alex: The Life of Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis (1973)
  • Portrait of a Marriage (1973)
  • Letters of Virginia Woolf (1975–1980) six volumes, editor
  • The Himalayas (1975)
  • Mary Curzon (1977)
  • The National Trust Book of Great Houses in Britain (1978)
  • Napoleon 1812 (1985)
  • Lady Curzon's India: Letters of a Vicereine (1986)
  • Two Roads to Dodge City (1986) with Adam Nicolson
  • The Village in History (1988) with Graham Nicholson and Jane Fawcett
  • Counties of Britain: A Tudor Atlas by John Speed (1989) with Alasdair Hawkyard
  • The World of Jane Austen (1991)
  • Vita And Harold : The Letters Of Vita Sackville-West And Harold Nicolson (1992) editor
  • A Long Life: Memoirs (1998)
  • Kent (1999)
  • Virginia Woolf, part of the Penguin Lives biography series (2000)
  • Fanny Burney: The Mother of English Fiction (2002)
  • The Queen and Us : The Second Elizabethan Age (2003)
  • Vita Sackville-West : Selected Writings (2003) editor with Mary Ann Caws

References

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Brendan Bracken
Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East & Christchurch
1952–1959
Succeeded by
John Cordle

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  • Nigel Nicolson — OBE (* 19. Januar 1917 in London; † 23. September 2004 auf Sissinghurst Castle, Kent, England) war ein britischer Autor, Verleger und Politiker. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben und Werk 2 Veröffentlichungen (Auswahl) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Nigel Nicolson — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Nicolson. Nigel Nicolson (19 janvier 1917 – 23 septembre 2004) est un écrivain, biographe, journaliste et éditeur britannique, également homme politique. Fils du diplomate et écrivain Harold… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Nicolson — is a patronymic surname meaning son of Nicholas . There are alternate spellings. Nicolson may refer to: People Adam Nicolson, British writer, son of Nigel Nicolson Adela Florence Nicolson, British poet writing as Laurence Hope Arthur Nicolson,… …   Wikipedia

  • Nicolson — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Arthur Nicolson (1849–1928), englischer Diplomat, Autor und Politiker Benedict Nicolson (1914–1978), englischer Kunsthistoriker, Sohn Harold Nicolsons Gerda Nicolson (1937–1992), australische… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Nicolson —  Cette page d’homonymie répertorie des personnes (réelles ou fictives) partageant un même patronyme.  Pour l’article homophone, voir Nicholson. Nicolson est un nom de famille notamment porté par : Sir Arthur Nicolson (1849 – 1928) …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Nicolson, Sir Harold — ▪ British diplomat and author in full  Harold George Nicholson   born Nov. 21, 1886, Tehrān, Iran died May 1, 1968, Sissinghurst Castle, Kent, Eng.       British diplomat and author of more than 125 books, including political essays, travel… …   Universalium

  • Nigel West — est le nom de plume de Rupert Allason, né le 8 novembre 1951, ancien membre du parlement britannique et conservateur de 1987 à 1997, historien et écrivain spécialiste de l espionnage. Œuvres Spy!, par Richard Deacon, avec Nigel West, London,… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Nigel Kennedy — Nigel Kennedy, Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2009 Background information Born 28 December 1956 (1956 12 28) (age 54 …   Wikipedia

  • Nicolson, Nigel — ▪ 2005       British biographer, publisher, and politician (b. Jan. 19, 1917, London, Eng. d. Sept. 23, 2004, Sissinghurst, Kent, Eng.), created a furor in 1973 with Portrait of a Marriage, a frank and to many shocking analysis of the unorthodox… …   Universalium

  • Nigel Poett — Sir Nigel Poett Brigadier J H N Poett conferring with General Sir Bernard Montgomery. Poett had just been decorated by the Commander of the United States First Army, General Omar Bradley on behalf of President Roosevelt at General Montgomery s… …   Wikipedia

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