Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure

by Artemis Cooper

  It is also worth looking at how he used the Green Diary in his two published works. On page 248 of A Time of Gifts he writes: ‘I can’t resist using a few passages of this old diary here and there. I have not interfered with the text except for cutting and condensing and clearing up obscurities.’ Needless to say, he did more than that. His tidies up the raw style of his youth, and removes some uncharitable remarks about the brutal-looking faces of the Czech cavalry. Two incidents where his hand was kissed by old female servants have been inserted, as has the passage with the Slovak schoolmaster. The order of events is rearranged, and two informal quotations (Elijah fed by ravens, the gold bar of heaven) are introduced. The line from Tennyson’s ‘Locksley Hall’ is quoted correctly in A Time of Gifts, while used rather more loosely in the diary: admiring two gypsy girls he writes, ‘I must say, I understand those chaps who take some swarthy bride to rear their dusky race.’ He is fascinated by the gypsies, and the diary contains a long passage on the effect their music has on the Hungarians. He certainly felt the de-barbarizing influence of Pips Schey, as the passage quoted about their long walks in Chapter 4 shows; but the significance of his stay at Kövecses is given more depth and richness in A Time of Gifts, no doubt as a result of the passing of time. Schey’s parting gift of the volume of Hölderlin is not mentioned in the diary, though the cigars and the tobacco are.

  Between the time he went to bed in Esztergom on the night of 31 March 1934 (Easter Saturday) and 14 August, when the diary resumes (at Lom in Bulgaria), Paddy wrote nothing. So the diary was of no use to him in recreating the long summer of 1934, which is the subject of Between the Woods and the Water.

  But although his use of the Green Diary is relatively slight, Paddy attached enormous importance to it. When the diary was misplaced, which happened quite often, he was not happy until it turned up again: it was a talisman, a holy relic, like his second passport, which he kept all his life. The diary’s great importance is that it survived. It is proof that that extraordinary walk did take place; it all really happened.

  APPENDIX II

  Patrick Leigh Fermor’s Walk across Europe, 1933–5

  This table does not include every place mentioned in the published and unpublished accounts that Paddy wrote about his walk. It is merely a way of expressing the chronology, and highlights the gaps and the overlaps.

  – mentioned

  * described

  APPENDIX III

  Horace’s Ode 1.9, ‘To Thaliarchus’

  The following is Paddy’s youthful translation of Horace’s Ode 1.9, ‘To Thaliarchus’, to which was owed the extraordinary moment of recognition in his encounter with General Kreipe on Crete (see here). It appeared in the December 1930 issue of his school magazine, The Cantuarian (Vol. XII, No. 6).

  See Soracte’s mighty peak stands deep in virgin snow

  And soon the heavy-laden trees their white load will not know,

  When the swiftly rushing rivers with the ice have ceased to flow.

  Pile, O Thaliarchus, pile the good logs on the fire!

  Fetch up some crusty four-year wine in cobwebbed Sabine jar!

  Thus we’ll drive away Jack Frost, with his biting cold so dire!

  Care-free, all other matters among the gods we’ll keep

  They when they’ve checked the battling wind upon the boiling deep

  Untossed about the cypress and the old ash tree may sleep.

  Seek not to know what changes to-morrow may be found

  But count as gain whatever lot the change of days brings round;

  Spurn not, young friend, sweet love-making, nor yet the dances round,

  While withered age is distant from thy youth frequent the plain,

  The thronged lawns, each fashionable haunt, a crowded lane,

  And at the trysting hour, e’en night-fall, softly whispered love’s refrain.

  Now doth a roguish laugh our hiding girl betray

  From her dark cover, where love’s token, perforce, is snatched away,

  And her ill-withstanding finger but feebly bids him nay.

  Acknowledgements

  Paddy did not like the idea of someone writing his biography, so my first thanks must go to the late Joan Leigh Fermor, and Paddy’s literary agent Anthony Sheil, for persuading him to change his mind. Originally, I was going to write this book jointly with my husband Antony Beevor; but his career as a historian took him into the great battles of the Second World War, while I had the joy of spending days on end in the company of one of the kindest, funniest and most interesting people on earth.

  Many gaps in Paddy’s life were filled in by Joan, although she hated talking about herself; and for the story of his parents and grandparents, I am much indebted to Paddy’s nephew and niece, Miles Fenton and Francesca Willoughby, the children of his sister, the late Vanessa Fenton. I also had invaluable assistance from Francis Fermor, Rosalind Ambler, and Sheila Fermor-Clarkson. On Joan’s side of the family, I would like to thank Michael and Joey Casey, and Robert and Bridget Kenward.

  This book could not have been written without Paddy’s closest friends, particularly Magouche Fielding, the late Andrew Devonshire and Deborah Devonshire, Janetta and Jaime Parladé, the late George Jellicoe and Philippa Jellicoe, and Olivia Stewart; also John Craxton, who did the jacket illustrations for all Paddy’s most important books, and Paddy’s publisher, the late Jock Murray. I would also like to thank Angela Allen, Sarah Anderson, Clare Arron, Alan Baker, Elpida Beloyannis, Freda Berkeley, William Blacker, Melvyn Bragg, the late John Campbell, Sheila Campbell, Pamela Cantacuzene, Sherban Cantacuzino, Mark Carleton-Smith, the late Maurice Cardiff, Dr Christian Carritt, Elizabeth Chatwin, Peter Chenery, Anne Chisholm, Cressida Connolly, Hayward Cutting, William Dalrymple, the late Michael Davie, William Davies, Ben Downing, Pamela Egremont, Jason Elliott, Patrick Fairweather, Reg Gadney, Frank and the late Kitty Giles, Jason Goodwin, Imogen Grundon, Alexandra Hadjimichalis, the late Billa Harrod, Max Hastings, the late Dorothy Heber-Percy, Priscilla Hedley, the late Canon Ingram Hill, Christopher Hourmouzios, Christopher Hudson, Louisa Lane Fox, Robin Lane Fox, Xara Kiosse, Leda Kostakis, the late Jon van Leuven, Deirdre Levi, Jeremy Lewis, Michael Llewellyn Smith, Professor Peter Mackridge, Helen Marchant, Rosanna Marston, David Mason, Nadia and Jean-Marc Mitterer, Caroline Moorehead, Fionn Morgan, Charlotte Mosley, the late Sophie Moss, the late William Mostyn-Owen, Diane Naylor, Anne Norwich, Chloe Obolensky, Frances Osborne, Mrs Barrie Pitt, Heulyn Rayner, Rob Rayner, Dr Patrick Reade, Hamish Robinson, Miranda Rothschild, Marie-Lyse Ruhemann, the late Steven Runciman, Alec Russell, Tom Sawford, Nicholas Shakespeare, the late David Smiley, Xan Smiley, John Stathatos, Charlotte Szapary, Santiago de Tamaron, Damaris Stewart, Colin Thubron, Ioanna Tsangarakis, Peter Tzanetakis and Tonia Tzanetaki-Yanidi, Miklos Vajda, Joachim Voigt, Rita Walker, Sara Wheeler, Joan Winterkorn, Mary Wood and Kyril Zinovieff.

  I am particularly grateful to Biddy Hubbard, Allegra and Tony Huston, Lyndall Passerini-Hopkinson and David Pryce-Jones for allowing me to use letters and diaries that provided unique insights into Paddy’s life; to Robert Harding, for allowing me to study, and quote from, the first autograph manuscript of A Time of Gifts; to Rudolf Fischer, who gave me such invaluable assistance on the chapters dealing with Hungary and Rumania; and to Tim Todd, who answered so many questions about the Kreipe Operation. Gabriella Bullock and Isabelle Cole not only gave me access to the unpublished diary of their father, William Stanley Moss, but also kindly allowed me to use several of his photographs. Paul Pollak and Peter Henderson have guided me through the Archive of the King’s School, Canterbury. Simon Fenwick, who made the initial catalogue of Paddy’s archive, found the last lines of the book, as well as many other treasures that I had overlooked; and I am grateful to Professor Roderick Beaton for correcting my brief descriptions of twentieth-century Greek politics.

  It would have been impossible to chart the gestation of Paddy’s books without his letters to his publisher, Jock Murray; and for giving me access to these and all P
addy-related papers at Albemarle Street, I owe a huge debt of thanks to John and Virginia Murray. Thanks to their Charitable Trust, the papers of Patrick Leigh Fermor have now found a permanent home in the John Murray Archive, held in the National Library of Scotland, which also has the photographs of Joan Leigh Fermor. I am grateful to David McClay, the archivist, for giving me a new perspective on her work, and to the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland for allowing me to reproduce her photographs in this book. I would also like to thank the Department of Special Collections and Archives of the McFarlin Library, the University of Tulsa, for permission to quote from the papers of Cyril Connolly; and the Special Collections Research Center of the Morris Library, University of Southern Illinois, for permission to quote from the papers of Lawrence Durrell. Thanks too to the librarians and archivists of the Travellers Club, the Northamptonshire Record Office, the Geological Society of London, the National Archives at Kew, the Gennadius Library in Athens, and the London Library.

  In 2008 I joined an expedition to Crete, organized by Chris Paul and Alun Davies. Their aim was to retrace the route taken by the kidnappers of General Kreipe. Thanks to the good offices of Colonel Theodore Kitsos of the Greek Embassy in London, we were accompanied by Nicos Frankioudakis of the Greek Armed Forces who acted as guide and interpreter; and with his help, we were able to talk to people who still had vivid memories of the Kreipe Operation. I was only with them for a few days, and failed to climb Mount Ida, but the experience was unforgettable. I would also like to mention the late Ralph Stockbridge. He and Paddy were both in occupied Crete, and their correspondence reveals how perceptions of the Kreipe Operation changed over the years.

  Felicity Bryan, my agent, and my editor Roland Philipps, have given me unfailing support and encouragement, and the book is more readable thanks to the work of Howard Davies. I would also like to thank Douglas Matthews who compiled the index, Rodney Paull who drew the maps, Caroline Westmore and Rosie Gailer at John Murray, and Sara Marafini, who designed the stunningly beautiful jacket.

  Paddy used to say that when writing a book, it is very important to keep an ideal reader in mind. I have two. One is my father, John Julius Norwich, and the other is Antony Beevor. I owe them both more than I can say.

  Illustration Acknowledgements

  Courtesy of Patrick Fairweather: 16 above. Courtesy of Miles Fenton: 1 below left and right. Patrick Leigh Fermor Archive, reproduced by permission of the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland: 1 above right, 2, 3, 4 below left and right, 5 above left and right, 7 below left, 8, 9 above left and right, 10 above, 11 above right and below, 12, 15 above and below left, 16 centre and below. Courtesy of Bridget Flemming: 15 below right. By permission of the Geological Society of London: 1 above left. Harry Gillard: 13 above. Courtesy of Mrs Biddy Hubbard: 4 above left. Courtesy of Allegra Huston: 13 below right. Courtesy of Philippa Jellicoe: 14 below right. © the Estate of William Stanley Moss, reproduced by permission: 6, 7 above and below right. Courtesy of John Murray Collection: 4 above right, 9 below (photograph by Joan Leigh Fermor), 14 below left. Reproduced by permission of the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland (photographs by Joan Leigh Fermor): 5 below left and right, 10 below left and right, 11 above left, 14 above. Courtesy of Lyndall Passerini-Hopkinson (photograph by Josephine Powell): 13 below left.

  Notes

  The following abbreviations are used in the ensuing notes:

  AC Artemis Cooper

  AF Ann Fleming

  BC Balasha Cantacuzene

  DC Diana Cooper

  DD Deborah Devonshire

  FP Family papers held by Miles Fenton, PLF’s nephew

  JGM John Grey Murray

  JMC John Murray Collection

  JR Joan Rayner, until 1968 when she becomes …

  JLF … Joan Leigh Fermor

  LPH Lyndall Passerini-Hopkinson

  PLF Patrick Leigh Fermor

  PLFA Patrick Leigh Fermor Archive

  WSM William Stanley Moss

  Unless otherwise stated, all the papers, notebooks, manuscripts, typescripts and letters cited are in the Patrick Leigh Fermor Archive. In 2012, with a grant from the John Murray Charitable Trust, this was bought by the National Library of Scotland.

  The letters of John Grey Murray, his memos, and all the papers concerning the editing and publication of PLF’s books form part of the John Murray Collection. This will eventually join the John Murray Archive in the National Library of Scotland, but is currently housed in the John Murray premises in Albemarle Street.

  Chapter 1: Neverland

  Sources consulted on PLF’s family include interviews with PLF, the late Francesca Willoughby (PLF’s niece), Miles Fenton (PLF’s nephew), Mrs Priscilla Hedley, Mrs Rosanna Marston; papers of Lewis Leigh Fermor held in the Royal Geological Society, London; papers in the Northamptonshire Record Office; Ambler family papers belonging to Rosalind Ambler; and papers held by Miles Fenton.

  1. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.36.

  2. Ibid., pp. 36–7.

  3. Letter from Mrs Charles Ambler, 17 February 1909 (FP).

  4. Lewis Leigh Fermor to Mrs Charles Ambler, 1 July 1910 (FP).

  5. PLF, A Time of Gifts, pp. 2–3.

  6. The Pleasure of Reading, ed. Antonia Fraser (Bloomsbury, 1992), pp. 35–6.

  7. PLF to AC.

  8. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.3.

  9. PLF to AC.

  10. PLF, ‘A Youthful Journey’, p.382.

  11. PLF to AC.

  12. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.4.

  13. Letter to PLF from Deryck Winbolt-Lewis, 12 September 1987.

  14. Æileen LF to Mrs Charles Ambler, 1 February 1923, from 3 Primrose Hill Studios (FP).

  15. PLF to Æileen LF.

  Chapter 2: The Plan

  Sources consulted include interviews with the late Canon Ingram Hill, Paul Pollak, then Archivist of the King’s School, Canterbury, and with Mr A. C. Baker.

  1. Interview with the late Canon Ingram Hill, 2002.

  2. PLF, autograph MS of A Time of Gifts, Ch. V, 38–9.

  3. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.8.

  4. Alan Watts, In My Own Way (Jonathan Cape, 1973), p.73.

  5. Ibid., p.118.

  6. PLF, ‘A Youthful Journey’, p.375.

  7. PLF, Mani, p.195.

  8. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.8.

  9. PLF to AC.

  10. PLF, ‘All Saints’ (short story), The Cantuarian (December 1929), Vol. XII, No. 3, p.151.

  11. PLF, ‘Phoebe’ (poem), The Cantuarian (March 1930), Vol. XII, No. 4, pp. 196–7.

  12. PLF, ‘To Thea’(poem), The Cantuarian (July 1930), Vol. XII, No. 5, p.253.

  13. PLF to AC.

  14. PLF, ‘Raiding Song of the Vandals’ (poem), The Cantuarian (July 1932), Vol. XII, No. 11.

  15–16. PLF, A Time of Gifts, pp. 8–9.

  17. PLF to AC.

  18. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.10.

  19. PLF, ‘A Youthful Journey’, p.380.

  20. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.11.

  21. Ibid., p.110.

  22. PLF to AC.

  23. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.113.

  24. PLF, autograph MS of A Time of Gifts, Ch. V, 40.

  25. Ibid., Ch. V, 39.

  26. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.113.

  27. Ibid., p.11.

  28. Ibid., p.12.

  29. PLF to AC; see Esmond Romilly, Boadilla (London, 1937; Macdonald, 1971), pp. 21–3.

  30. PLF, autograph MS of A Time of Gifts, Ch. V, 41.

  31. PLF notebook, salami-patterned cover, c. 1963.

  32. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.14.

  33. PLF to AC.

  34. PLF to AC.

  35. PLF, ‘A Youthful Journey’, p.384.

  Chapter 3: ‘Zu Fuss nach Konstantinopel’

  Nick Hunt’s After the Woods and the Water (http://afterthewoodsandthewater.wordpress.com) proves that PLF’s walk across Europe can still be done, and includes photographs of the landscapes he passed through and houses that he stayed i
n. To be published by Arcadia in 2013.

  1. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.20.

  2. Ibid., p.24.

  3. Gareth Jones, ‘Hitler’s Policy Towards the East’, Western Mail, 8 June 1933.

  4. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.32.

  5. Ibid., p.34.

  6. PLF, autograph MS of A Time of Gifts, Ch. II, 3.

  7–8. PLF, A Time of Gifts, pp. 116–17.

  9. PLF, ‘A Youthful Journey’, p.4.

  10. Ibid., p.8.

  11–12. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.60.

  13. PLF, Katounia notebook, c. 1963, cream crocodile cover.

  14. PLF, autograph MS of A Time of Gifts, Ch. V, 50, 51.

  15. Daniel Guérin, The Brown Plague (La Peste brune) (Duke University Press, 1994), p.91.

  16. PLF, A Time of Gifts, pp. 86–7.

  17. Ibid., p.97.

  18. Ibid., pp. 72–5.

  19. PLF, ‘A Youthful Journey’, p.12.

  20. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.121.

  21. Stefan Zweig, The World of Yesterday (London, 1943; University of Nebraska Press, 1964), p.281.

  22. See Tim Kirk, Nazism and the Working Class in Austria (Cambridge University Press, 2002), p.43.

  23. PLF, Morocco notebook, 1963.

  24. Stefan Zweig, op. cit., pp. 290–91.

  25. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.185; PLF to AC.

  26. PLF, autograph MS of A Time of Gifts, Ch. VIII, (b)4.

  27. PLF, A Time of Gifts, pp. 197–8.

  28. Ibid., p.207.

  Chapter 4: An Enchanted Summer

  1. PLF, A Time of Gifts, p.213.

  2. Ibid., p.216.

  3. Ibid., p.223.

  4. Ibid., p.229.

  5. Ibid., p.245.

  6. Ibid., p.255.

  7. PLF, Green Diary TS, p.9.

  8. Ibid., p.12.