A Very Private Celebrity

by Hugh Purcell

  There is a tailpiece. A few days after the funeral, Judith rang Matthew. She confirmed that John had destroyed his papers but a small file remained, which she would send on. It contained the transcript of an interview that Freeman had given in 1989 to John Boe of the San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal. His last answer explains why this one file was not destroyed: I went to his [Jung’s] funeral and it wasn’t very big. I’ve forgotten how many people were there, but it wasn’t a great occasion at all. I remember thinking that I wouldn’t mind this for my own funeral because, on the whole, ‘the great and the good’ weren’t there. I expect there were one or two distinguished celebrities there I’ve forgotten. It was his family, his lovers, and his close associates, and so on. It was wholly people who cared about him. I remember thinking at the time, ‘Well, it’s a good way to send the old boy off.’ Because he really was a very personal man indeed, who had close and intimate relations with these people. And here they were, all gathered to say goodbye to him. And there wasn’t a general, or a prime minister, or a pope in sight.

  The obituary writers gave the impression that they were surprised Freeman had only just died. Indeed, Norman MacKenzie in The Times and Anthony Howard in The Guardian had pre-deceased their subject. He was squeezed off the Today programme on Radio 4 because of the death later in the weekend of the actress Billie Whitelaw, which would probably have afforded him pleasure had he been able to foresee it. Two of the obituaries took opposing views. Dominic Lawson saw Freeman as a model of achievement and public service who shunned celebrity status; a survivor from a better age:

  On the streets of our cities, people now brandish ‘selfie-sticks’, cameraphones with extensions, designed so they can photograph themselves with even greater attention to detail and broadcast their poses to anyone who might be interested (or even those who aren’t).

  What the long and astonishing life of John Freeman reminds us is that it is not who we are, but what we do – and what we do for others – that matters.12

  Terence Blacker, writing in The Independent, shared the general admiration for Freeman but not for the archetype:

  For all the energy and achievement of clever Englishmen of that generation, there is something sad about their disconnectedness, the lack of pleasure in their own or other achievements, the modesty that could be construed as a kind of arrogance, the general sense of an unhappy and lonely upper-class child’s progress through adult life.

  They have helped shape the world in which we now find ourselves, but the astonishing, melancholy lives of men of achievement such as John Freeman make one feel startlingly grateful for today’s messier, more human leaders.13

  Let those who knew Freeman personally react as they will. I do see him as an extreme example of his age with all the stiff upper lip and the repression that implies. But the fact is that he lived well beyond his age, and those who saw him cycling through Davis or playing bowls in Barnes in the last decades of his life must have recognised a mellow old man trying his best to fit in with the community around him. Whatever his faults, in the words of Thomas Carlyle, ‘The history of the world is but the history of great men’ – and John Freeman deserves his place in the British history of his time, even though he did not want it.

  Notes

  1 Daily Mail, 7 January 1965

  2 John Freeman, New Statesman, 19 January 1962

  3 Susan Hicklin interview with the author, 2004

  4 Isobel and Percy Kimber interview with the author, 2015

  5 Ibid.

  6 Janet Triggs interview with the author, 2015

  7 Wyatt, op. cit., 1998, p. 688

  8 John Freeman letter to Geoffrey Wandesforde-Smith, 3 July 2007 (given to the

  author)

  9 Lawson interview with the author, 2014

  10 John Freeman letter to Norman MacKenzie, 26 June 2008

  11 Daily Mail, 22 December 2014

  12 Ibid.

  13 The Independent, 22 December 2014

  Acknowledgements

  IN A BIOGRAPHY like this that ranges over very different areas of twentieth-century life, I have necessarily relied on several authors whose books have quoted the source material. I am particularly grateful, therefore, to: Francis Wheen, author of Tom Driberg: His Life and Indiscretions; Richard Lindley, author of ‘Panorama: Fifty Years of Pride and Paranoia; Paul McGarr, author of The Cold War in South Asia, Britain, the United States and the Indian Subcontinent 1945–1965; John W. Young, author of The Washington Embassy: British Ambassadors to the United States 1939–1977; and David Docherty, author of Running the Show: 21 Years of London Weekend Television.

  For interviews, I am particularly grateful to my friend, the late Professor Norman MacKenzie; also to the late Susan Hicklin, the late Anthony Howard, the late Rt Hon. Michael Foot PC and the late Anthony Clare, all of whom I interviewed between 2004 and 2012. My thanks to those I interviewed in 2013–15. In the United States I spoke to: Dr Henry Kissinger; Joanna Rose; Corinna Metcalf; Wes Pruden; and Professors Larry Berman, Randy Siverson, Larry Wade and Geoffrey Wandesforde-Smith at UC Davis. Also in the US were Jean Snyder, Cynthia Basinger and Elizabeth Sherwin. In the UK I interviewed, in order of chapters: Lizi Freeman; Michael Peacock; Peregrine Worsthorne; Paul Johnson; Margaret Vallance; Lord Renwick; Professor Robert Cassen; Cynthia Akhtar; Sir Christopher Bland; Lord Lawson; Brian Tesler CBE; Ron Miller; Lord Grade; Lord Birt; Matthew Freeman; Isobel and Percy Kimber; and Janet Triggs.

  For permission to use archive material, I thank: Elizabeth Wells of the Westminster School archives; K. Petvin-Scudamore of www.findasoldier.co.uk for Freeman’s army service record; Jeff Walden of the BBC Written Archives Centre at Caversham; Jason Crawley of the New Statesman; and, again, Professor Geoffrey Wandesforde-Smith and Elizabeth Sherwin of the University of California at Davis. I made use of: the British Library; the National Archives at Kew; the Bodleian Library in Oxford for Cherwell magazine; Christ Church, Oxford, for Tom Driberg’s papers; and the British Diplomatic Oral History Programme at Churchill College, Cambridge.

  For permission to quote written extracts I am grateful to: the family of Lord Birkett; Sharon Rubin at Peters Fraser & Dunlop for Edith Sitwell; the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation; Emma Cheshire at Faber & Faber for Wendy Cope’s poem ‘Being Boring’; the permissions departments of Arrow Books for Open Secret by Stella Rimington, Carlton Books for Sisyphus and Reilly by Peter Luke, Random House and Jonathan Cape for Dalton’s The Political Diary of Hugh Dalton and HarperCollins for Woodrow Wyatt’s Confessions of an Optimist.

  For photographs I thank the Westminster School archives, the Imperial War Museum, the A&I photo library at the BBC archives, and Gigi and Harry Benson. For maps I am grateful to Barry Lowenhoff and to Frances Walker for helping with copyright clearances. I gladly acknowledge Prakash Dehta, who suggested I write this biography over ten years ago when we met in India. My agent, James Wills of Watson Little, arranged for this book to be published by the Robson Press, where Jeremy Robson and my editor Melissa Bond have always been very helpful – my thanks to them.

  Above all, I want to thank Catherine Freeman, without whose constant encouragement this biography would not have been written; also, my wife Margaret Percy, whose research and technical assistance were invaluable.

  Index

  Alam Halfa Ridge, Battle of 1

  Alsop, Stewart 1

  Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) 1

  anti-Vietnam riots 1

  Aquarius (TV show) 1

  Aron, Raymond 1

  Ashley Courtenay Ltd 1

  Associated Rediffusion 1, 2, 3

  Association of Cinematographic and Television Technicians (ACTT) 1, 2

  At Home and Abroad (radio sho w) 1

  Attlee, Clement 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and Bevan 1, 2

  and Freeman 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  ATV 1

  Auchinleck, Gen Claude 1

  Barker, Ronnie 1

  Barman, Thomas 1

  Barnes Lonsdale Bowling C
lub 1, 2, 3

  Basinger, Cynthia 1, 2, 3, 4

  BBC 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 see also Face to Face;

  Panorama and LWT 1, 2, 3

  Beaton, Cecil 1

  Beefsteak Club 1

  Behan, Brendan 1

  Belafonte, Harry 1

  Bellinger, Fred 1

  Belsen concentration camp 1

  Benn, Tony 1

  Bennett, Cyril 1, 2, 3, 4

  Berlin, Isaiah 1

  Berman, Larry 1, 2, 3

  Berne Group 1, 2

  Bevan, Aneurin 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and Bevanites 1, 2, 3

  Bevin, Ernest 1, 2

  Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali 1

  Binfield, Ena 1, 2

  Birkett, Norman, Lord 1, 2, 3

  Birt, John 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  Blackburn, Capt Raymond 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Blacker, Terence 1, 2

  Blair, Julia 1, 2

  Bland, Sir Christopher 1, 2, 3

  Blunt, Anthony 1

  Boothby, Robert 1, 2

  bowls 1, 2

  Bragg, Melvyn 1

  Brando, Marlon 1

  Brandon, Henry 1, 2, 3, 4

  British Army 1, 2 131st Infantry Brigade 1, 2, 3, 4

  Rifle Brigade (‘Desert Rats’) 1, 2, 3

  British Film Institute 1

  Broadcasting Act (1990) 1

  Brown, George 1, 2, 3

  Brown, W. J. 1

  Bruce, David 1, 2

  Budgie (TV show) 1

  Bulgaria 1, 2

  Burgess, Guy 1, 2, 3

  Burma 1

  Burnett, Hugh 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  Burns, Andrew 1

  Burstall, Christopher 1, 2

  Burton, Humphrey 1

  Bustani, Emile 1

  Butler, Rab 1

  Byrne, Jock 1

  Callaghan, James 1

  Cambodia 1, 2, 3

  Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) 1

  Campbell, Lord 1, 2

  Canasta, Chan 1, 2

  Carroll, Diahann 1

  Cassen, Robert 1, 2, 3, 4

  Castle, Barbara 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Chamberlain, Neville 1

  Chan Canasta (TV show) 1, 2

  Chataway, Christopher 1

  China 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Churchill, Diana 1

  Churchill, Winston 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  Clare, Anthony 1, 2, 3, 4

  Cockburn, Claud 1

  Cold War 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Commonwealth Immigration Act (1968) 1

  communism 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and vote rigging 1

  Conservative Party 1, 2, 3, 4

  Cooper, Tommy 1

  Corbett, Ronnie 1

  Costley-White, Dr Harold 1, 2, 3

  Cousins, Frank 1

  Cox, Susan see Hicklin, Susan

  Crawley, Aidan 1, 2 and LWT 1, 2, 3, 4

  Cripps, Sir Stafford 1, 2, 3

  Crosland, Tony 1, 2, 3

  Crossman, Richard 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and New Statesman 1, 2, 3, 4

  Cuban Missile Crisis 1, 2

  Czechoslovakia 1, 2

  Dalton, Hugh 1, 2, 3, 4 and Freeman 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  Davis, Hunter 1, 2

  Dean, Sir Patrick 1, 2

  Desert Island Discs (radio show) 1

  Docherty, David 1

  Douglas-Home, Alec 1

  Dove, Catherine see Freeman, Catherine

  Driberg, Tom 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and Bevanites 1, 2, 3

  and India 1, 2

  and Labour Party 1, 2, 3

  and marriage 1, 2

  and spying 1, 2, 3, 4

  and television 1

  and Second World War 1

  Dulles, John Foster 1

  Eisenhower, Dwight D. 1

  Electrical Trades Union (ETU) 1, 2

  Eliot, T. S. 1, 2

  Elizabeth II, Queen 1

  Elwell, Felicia 1

  Epropolski, Tseko 1

  Experimental Theatre Group (Oxford) 1

  Fabian Society 1, 2

  Face to Face (TV show) 1, 2, 3, 4

  Faith, Adam 1

  Faringdon, Gavin Henderson, Lord 1

  fascism 1, 2, 3

  Finney, Albert 1

  Flavus: and New Statesman 1

  and Oxford 1

  Foges, Wolfgang 1

  Foot, Michael 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Football League 1

  Foreman, Denis 1

  Foulkes, Frank 1

  France 1, 2, 3

  Free Speech (TV show) 1, 2

  Freeman, Beatrice (mother) 1, 2

  Freeman, Catherine (third wife) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and BBC 1

  and divorce 1, 2, 3

  and Driberg 1, 2

  and India 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  and O’Brien 1

  and Panorama 1, 2

  and USA 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Freeman, Elizabeth (first wife) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Freeman, Horace (father) 1, 2, 3

  Freeman, James (brother) 1, 2

  Freeman, James (grandfather) 1

  Freeman, Jessica (daughter) 1, 2, 3

  Freeman, John 1, 2, 3, 4 and Bevan 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  and Boothby 1

  and bowls 1, 2

  and broadcasting 1, 2, 3

  and Burma 1

  and communism 1

  and Dalton 1

  and Driberg 1, 2

  and Face to Face 1, 2

  and family 1, 2, 3

  and India 1, 2

  and ITN 1

  and Jung 1

  and LWT 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  and marriage 1, 2, 3, 4

  and Montgomery 1

  and MP 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  and New Statesman 1, 2, 3, 4

  and News of the World 1

  and nuclear disarmament 1

  and O’Brien 1

  and Oxford 1, 2, 3

  and Panorama 1, 2

  and politics 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  and UC Davis 1

  and US ambassador 1

  and Second World War 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  and Wyndham Goldie 1, 2, 3

  Freeman, Judith (fourth wife) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

  Freeman, Lizi (stepdaughter) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  Freeman, Lucy (daughter) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Freeman, Matthew (son) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  Freeman, Mima (second wife) 1, 2, 3

  Freeman, Tom (son) 1, 2, 3, 4

  Freeman, Victoria (daughter) 1, 2, 3

  Frost, David 1, 2 and LWT 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Gaitskell, Hugh 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and Butler 1

  Galbraith, Tam 1

  Gandhi, Indira 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Gandhi, Mahatma 1, 2, 3

  Garner, Joe 1

  Garrick Club 1

  de Gaulle, Charles 1

  Gazala Line 1

  George VI, King 1, 2

  Germany 1, 2 Afrika Korps 1, 2, 3

  Gomes, Cynthia 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Grade, Leslie 1, 2

  Grade, Michael 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  Granada TV 1, 2, 3

  Graves, Robert 1

  Greene, Graham 1

  Greene, Hugh Carleton 1, 2

  Greenhill, Sir Denis 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Grist, John 1

  Hall, Sir Peter 1, 2

  Hancock, Tony 1, 2, 3, 4

  Hardcastle, William 1

  Harding, Gilbert 1, 2, 3

  Hardy, Bert 1, 2, 3

  Havilland, Julian 1

  Hawkes, Jacquetta 1

  Healey, Dennis 1, 2

  Heart to Heart (play) 1

  Heath, Edward 1, 2, 3

  Helman, Cmdre W. 1

  Hicklin, Susan 1, 2, 3, 4

  hijacks 1

  Hitler, Adolf 1

  Hole, Tahu 1

  Holland 1

  homosexuality 1, 2, 3 and Driberg 1, 2, 3, 4

  Hope, Francis 1, 2

  Horrocks, Gen Brian 1

  Howar, Barbara 1

  Howard, Anthony 1, 2, 3, 4 and New Statesman 1, 2, 3

&n
bsp; Hubback, David 1

  Hubback, Eva 1

  Humphrey, Hubert 1

  Hungary 1, 2, 3, 4

  hunger marches 1

  Hunkin, Rev Oliver 1

  Hutchinson 1

  Huxley, Julian 1

  Hyams, Edward 1, 2

  Ignotus, Pál 1

  In the News (TV show) 1, 2

  Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Independent Television Authority (ITA) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Independent Television News (ITN) 1, 2, 3

  India 1, 2, 3, 4 and High Commissioner 1

  India Companies Act (1969) 1

  Indo-Pakistan War 1

  International Brigades 1

  Irwin, John 1

  Israel 1, 2, 3

  Italy 1

  ITV 1, 2, 3, 4

  Ivory, James 1

  Jaffrey, Madhur 1

  James, Morrice 1, 2

  Japan 1

  Jarrow March 1

  Jenkins, Roy 1, 2, 3, 4

  Jha, C. S. 1

  Jha, Prem Shankar 1

  Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer 1

  John, Augustus 1, 2, 3

  Johnson, Hewlett, Dean of Canterbury 1

  Johnson, Lyndon B. 1, 2

  Johnson, Paul 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and New Statesman 1, 2, 3

  and UC Davis 1

  Jordan 1

  Jung, Carl 1, 2, 3 and Face to Face 1

  Kádár, János 1

  Kashmir 1, 2, 3, 4

  Kee, Robert 1, 2

  Kennan, George 1

  Kennedy, John F. 1, 2, 3, 4

  Kenya 1