Auberon Waugh - Life and Career

Life and Career

Born at his maternal grandparents' house at Pixton Park, Dulverton, Somerset, he was known as "Bron" by friends and family. He was the second child and first son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh and his second wife, Laura (née Herbert). His paternal grandfather was author and publisher Arthur Waugh and his uncle was Alec Waugh. His maternal grandfather was diplomat and traveller Aubrey Herbert, and through him Auberon Waugh was related to Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon, a leading member of the Conservative Party, Esme Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Penrith, ambassador to the United States, and George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, the famous Egyptologist who discovered King Tutankhamen's tomb, and the Irish Viscount de Vesci. He was named after his mother's brother, a landowner and advocate of Eastern European causes after World War II.

Born just as war broke out, he hardly saw his father until he was five. He was educated at the Benedictine Downside School in Somerset and passed his Greek and Latin "A" Levels at the early age of fifteen. He went on to begin a Philosophy, Politics, and Economics degree at Christ Church, Oxford, where he held an exhibition in English. However, he was rusticated (suspended for unsatisfactory performance) by the academic authorities, and chose not to return to the university, preferring to make an early start in journalism.

During his National Service, he was commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards and served in Cyprus, where he was almost killed in a machine gun accident. Annoyed by a fault in the machine gun on his armoured car which he drove frequently, he seized the end of the barrel and shook it, accidentally triggering the mechanism so that the gun fired several bullets through his chest. As a result of his injuries, he lost his spleen, one lung, several ribs, and a finger, and suffered from pain and recurring infections for the rest of his life. While lying on the ground waiting for an ambulance he said to his platoon sergeant: "Kiss me, Chudleigh." He later recalled, however, that "Chudleigh did not recognise the allusion and from then on treated me with extreme caution." He was first treated for his injuries at Nicosia General Hospital. While recuperating from the accident in Italy, he began his first novel, The Foxglove Saga.