64 Interviews with Sir Charles Markham and Mrs Cockie Hoogterp. Sir Charles was kind enough to question his aunt, Mrs Mary Markham, widow of Mansfield Markham, about this matter and transmit the result to the author.
65 ibid.
66 This documentation from informal sources mainly consisted of bank statements which various interviewees had kept as ‘Souvenirs’.
67 Interview with Mrs Cockie Hoogterp, May 1986.
68 Some interviewees insisted on anonymity. Where this occurred their information has been used only when the author was convinced of its accuracy and value to the biography.
69 Interview with Mrs F. Migdoll, March 1986.
70 The Civil List is a fixed sum (agreed by Parliament) paid annually to meet the salaries and expenses of the royal household including the pensions of former employees.
71 Mrs Cockie Hoogterp to Elspeth Huxley, relayed to the author in private correspondence, August 1986.
72 Interview with Mrs Cockie Hoogterp, May 1986. Research reveals that HRH Prince Henry did not shine in court social circles. His real pleasures in life were country pursuits, riding and hunting etc., and this is where his personality really sparkled. He would have been a far happier man had he been born a country squire rather than a prince.
73 Bad ’Uns to Beat, Guy Paget, Collins, 1936.
74 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 2 March 1930.
75 Interview with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986; and the writer’s own experience.
CHAPTER 5
1 The Honourable Denys George Finch Hatton was born in 1887, the second son of the 13th Earl of Winchelsea and 8th Earl of Nottingham.
2 Doreen Bathurst Norman, telephone conversation, October 1986.
3 Isak Dinesen: The Life of Karen Blixen, Judith Thurman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982.
4 Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, April 1986. Beryl also hinted at a characteristic which other informants (among them Sir Charles Markham) had mentioned. ‘He was something you wouldn’t like,’ she told me. ‘Do you mean he liked men and women equally?’ I asked. ‘Oh you knew, did you?’ To me it seemed perfectly in line with Denys’s extraordinary sensitivity but I felt that Beryl was disappointed that I was not shocked.
5 Isak Dinesen: The Life of Karen Blixen, Judith Thurman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982.
6 Letter from Bunny Allen, July 1986.
7 Isak Dinesen: The Life of Karen Blixen, Judith Thurman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1982.
8 African Hunter, Bror von Blixen-Finecke, Cassell, 1937.
9 Isak Dinesen: The Life of Karen Blixen, Judith Thurman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982.
10 Interview with Beryl Markham in Nairobi, April 1986. Asked for her opinion of the theory that Bror had infected Tania with syphilis, in view of Cockie Hoogterp’s claims that it was not possible, Beryl responded, ‘He had lots of other women you know, has anyone else ever complained of getting it from him?’ This writer was unable to discover any other complaints. However this is not conclusive, for few women would have aired such a problem had it occurred. Nevertheless it is a point to consider.
11 Isak Dinesen: The Life of Karen Blixen, Judith Thurman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982.
12 ibid.
13 Transcript of interview made with Mr Bunny Allen for the television documentary World without Walls, Kenya, 1984.
14 Inside Safari Hunting, Dennis Holman, W.H. Allen, 1969.
15 Black Laughter, Llewelyn Powys, Macdonald, 1953.
16 East African Standard, 17 May 1931.
17 Out of Africa, Karen Blixen, Penguin, 1984.
18 James Fox, ‘Who is Beryl Markham?’, Observer Magazine, 30 September 1984.
19 Isak Dinesen: The Life of Karen Blixen, Judith Thurman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982.
20 ibid.
21 ibid.
22 Silence Will Speak, Errol Trzebinski, Heinemann, 1977.
23 The Gipsy Moth was a two-seater bi-plane built by De Havilland. It was the first light aircraft to gain ‘popular’ acceptance and did much to promote civil aviation.
24 Silence Will Speak, Errol Trzebinski, Heinemann, 1977. After Denys’s death his family accepted Tania, possibly because she formed some sort of link with Denys. She made many visits to their home and became a favourite surrogate aunt to the Finch Hatton children.
25 In Silence Will Speak Errol Trzebinski says this ‘gave a vital fillip to their relationship…In the way that a new child, whose birth is neither planned nor hoped for will sometimes postpone a rift in a foundering marriage, flying brought interest and a feeling of temporary peace.’
26 Out of Africa, Karen Blixen, Penguin, 1984.
27 Percy Bysshe Shelley, ‘Invocation’:
Rarely, rarely comest thou,
Spirit of Delight!
Wherefore hast thou left me now
Many a day and night?
Many a weary night and day
’Tis since thou art fled away.
How shall ever one like me
Win thee back again?
With the joyous and the free
Thou wilt scoff at pain.
Spirit false! thou hast forgot
All but those who need thee not.
As a lizard with the shade
Of a trembling leaf,
Thou with sorrow art dismayed;
Even the sighs of grief
Reproach thee, that thou art not
And reproach thou wilt not hear.
Let me set my mournful ditty
To a merry measure;
Thou wilt never come for pity,
Thou wilt come for pleasure;
Pity then will cut away
Those cruel wings, and thou wilt stay…
I love Love – though he has wings,
And like light can flee,
But above all other things,
Spirit, I love thee –
Thou art love and life! Oh, come!
Make once more my heart thy home.
28 Isak Dinesen: The Life of Karen Blixen, Judith Thurman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982.
29 ibid.
30 Interview with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986.
31 Out of Africa, Karen Blixen, Penguin, 1984.
32 Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman in telephone conversation, October 1986.
33 Interview with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986.
34 Isak Dinesen: The Life of Karen Blixen, Judith Thurman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982.
35 ibid.
36 The Times, 21 September 1936.
37 Out of Africa, Karen Blixen, Penguin, 1984.
38 ibid.
39 ibid.
40 Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, April 1986; and transcript of interviews with Beryl by film crew of the documentary World without Walls, Kenya, 1984.
41 ibid.
42 The Times, 21 September 1936.
43 Hunters’ Tracks: Great Men – Great Hunters, J.A. Hunter, Hamish Hamilton, 1959.
44 ibid.
45 The Times, 17 May 1931.
46 Hunters’ Tracks: Great Men – Great Hunters, J.A. Hunter, Hamish Hamilton, 1959.
47 Silence Will Speak, Errol Trzebinski, Heinemann, 1977.
48 Interviews with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Mrs Sybil Llewelyn, Mr Ryan ‘Buster’ Parnell, and others who wish to remain anonymous.
49 Silence Will Speak, Errol Trzebinski, Heinemann, 1977; and Isak Dinesen: The Life of Karen Blixen, Judith Thurman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982.
50 East African Standard, 16 May 1931.
51 Out of Africa, Karen Blixen, Penguin, 1984.
52 Isak Dinesen: The Life of Karen Blixen, Judith Thurman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982.
53 There is a story that Beryl was pregnant by Denys when he died and that she chose to terminate the pregnancy. This information was repeated by two separate sources, neither of whom would agree to their names being given here; and neither knew of the other’s disclosure. I did consider omitting the incid
ent. However it has been included here because of its obvious importance and because I was able to substantiate other things told me by the same people.
On numerous Ooccasions I came across a barrier whenever the subject of Beryl’s relationship with Denys came up. Interviewees who had seemed willing to talk freely suddenly appeared vague, or said they weren’t prepared to talk about it. This seems odd in view of the fact that over fifty years have now passed and attitudes towards sexual mores have changed. I was left with the distinct impression that there is still something about the affair which has not been told.
54 Telephone conversation with Doreen Bathurst Norman, October 1986.
CHAPTER 6
1 General; also George Bathurst Norman’s tribute, 4 September 1986; interview with Jack Trench by team of television documentary, World without Walls, Kenya, 1984; article by G.D. Fleming, ‘Popular Flying’, July 1936: ‘Once I shot an 8 ft 4 in lioness beside our hangar and despite the six-foot ditch and barbed wire fence we often got game inside, and several times lions made their kills inside the aerodrome.’
2 The Times, 21 September 1936.
3 Florence Desmond, Florence Desmond, Harrap, 1953.
4 Pioneers’ Scrapbook, ed. Elspeth Huxley and Arnold Curtis, Evans Brothers, 1980.
5 Then and Now: Nairobi’s Norfolk Hotel, Jan Hemsing, Sealpoint, 1975.
6 Pioneers’ Scrapbook, ed. Elspeth Huxley and Arnold Curtis, Evans Brothers, 1980.
7 ibid.
8 Sport and Travel in East Africa, compiled from the Prince of Wales’s diaries by Patrick R. Chalmers, Philip Allan, 1934.
9 Interviews with Miss Florence Desmond, Surrey, March and June 1986; and Florence Desmond, Florence Desmond, Harrap, 1953.
10 ibid.
11 Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, 1986.
12 ibid. Reconstruction based on what Beryl could remember and the writer’s own experiences.
13 Beryl Markham’s first log book; entries date from 11 June 1931 to 10 October 1934.
14 East African Standard, various issues, 1930 and 1931.
15 Interviews with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, March and April 1986; and transcript of a filmed interview with Beryl Markham for the television documentary World without Walls, Kenya, 1984.
16 Information extracted from Beryl Markham’s first log book.
17 Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, April 1986.
18 Daily Express, September 1936.
19 Civil aircraft are recognized by a ‘registration number’, consisting of a prefix and suffix. Each country has its own prefix – i.e. British civil aircraft carried the prefix GE initially, followed by three letters of the alphabet. Later the British prefix was changed to GA. The Kenya prefix was VP.
20 Mr John Dawson of Melton Mowbray in personal correspondence with the author. The purchase price of the Avian in 1928 was £600 ‘ex-aerodrome’; but the price was later lowered to compete with the ubiquitous De Havilland Gipsy Moth which sold for £395.
21 Michael Cottar, 20 November 1931.
22 Interview with Mrs Cockie Hoogterp, Berkshire, 1986. Downdraughts generally occur near mountains in hot weather. They are invisible of course and can vary from annoying to extremely unpleasant. A light aircraft will fight to gain altitude but any gains the pilot is able to make are invariably lost in a series of alarming bumps.
23 Interview with Florence Desmond, Surrey, 1986, Tom had more silver trophies for his horseriding activities than for his flying.’
24 Campbell Black made the round trip between England and Kenya thirteen times between 1929 and 1934.
25 Paddy Migdoll, Buster Parnell and Sir Charles Markham were among many of Beryl’s friends who were given the impression by Beryl that Tom had been ‘the love of her life’. This view is not shared by Doreen Bathurst Norman who thought that Denys Finch Hatton had meant more to her. Beryl made the following statements: ‘When my beloved flew to England I followed him…’ Question: ‘Do you mean Tom when you say beloved?’ ‘Him, yes – who else would I mean?’ and (when talking of her transatlantic flight) ‘Then my beloved was killed and I went home quickly.’
26 Famous Flights, John Frayn Turner, Arthur Barker, 1978.
27 East African Standard, May and October 1936.
28 Little Gloria, Happy at Last, Barbara Goldsmith, Macmillan, 1980.
29 The Heart Has its Reasons, Duchess of Windsor, Michael Joseph, 1969.
30 Little Gloria, Happy at Last, Barbara Goldsmith, Macmillan, 1980.
31 Letter from Tom Campbell Black to Beryl Markham, July 1934.
32 East African Standard, October 1936. The Waco belonged to East African Airways, a company jointly owned by John Carberry.
33 Daily Sketch, May 1932.
34 East African Standard, May 1932.
35 Standard instrumentation in the Avro Avian Sports model.
36 Log Book entries July 1932.
37 Interview with Sir Charles Markham, Nairobi, March 1986.
38 Daily Express, 13 August 1932.
39 The Flying Duchess, John Duke of Bedford, Macdonald, 1982.
40 East African Standard, ‘Mrs Markham’s return’; and extract from private diary of Lady Moore provided by Mrs Elspeth Huxley.
41 Extracts from Beryl Markham’s log books, December 1932.
42 Out in the Midday Sun, Elspeth Huxley, Chatto & Windus, 1985.
43 White Mischief, James Fox, Jonathan Cape, 1982.
44 Out in the Midday Sun, Elspeth Huxley, Chatto & Windus, 1985.
45 The Spotted Lion, Kenneth Gandar Dower, Heinemann, 1937.
46 Out in the Midday Sun, Elspeth Huxley, Chatto & Windus, 1985.
47 Letter from Mr Bunny Allen to the author, 1986.
48 Private correspondence between the author and Miss Juanita Carberry, July 1986.
49 Log book entries and interview with Beryl Markham, April 1986.
50 Interview with Beryl Markham, April 1986.
51 Alone in the Sky, Jean Batten, Airlife Books, 1979.
52 Article by Beryl Markham, Daily Express, September 1936.
53 Mr John Dawson of Melton Mowbray in private correspondence with the author, 1986.
54 Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, March 1986.
55 Article by Beryl Markham, Daily Express, September 1936.
56 Out in the Midday Sun, Elspeth Huxley, Chatto & Windus, 1985.
57 ‘Flying Luck’, G.D. Fleming (RAFO), Popular Flying, July 1936.
58 Interview with Mr Jack Trench by production team of World without Walls, Kenya, 1984.
59 Pioneers’ Scrapbook, ed. Elspeth Huxley and Arnold Curtis, Evans Bros, 1980. There are twenty Kenya shillings to the Kenya pound.
60 Blue is the Sky, G.D. Fleming, William Earl & Co, 1945.
CHAPTER 7
1 Mr Muraguri, Jockey Club, Nairobi, April 1986.
2 Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, March 1986.
3 London Evening Standard, 9 December 1933.
4 Transcript of filmed interview with Bunny Allen, World without Walls, Kenya, 1984. Beryl still had one of these message bags in her trunk in 1986.
5 ibid.
6 The Short and Happy Life of Francis Macomber, Ernest Hemingway, Jonathan Cape, 1944.
7 Ernest Hemingway, Carlos Baker, Collins, 1969.
8 Ernest Hemingway – Selected Letters, ed. Carlos Baker, Granada Publishing, 1981.
9 East African Standard, 28 August 1934.
10 Florence Desmond stated that Tom changed his mind about Hitler in 1935 when stories of the dictator’s excesses started to filter through. However prior to this Tom, in common with many others, thought that Hitler was a good strong leader for the German people.
11 Beryl had retyped this letter heading it ‘extracts from a letter from Tom’, probably because she intended to use part of it in West with the Night. It is therefore not possible to say whether she deliberately chose to omit any original endearments.
12 Letter to the author from Gustaf ‘Romulus’ Kleen, Septem
ber 1986.
13 ibid.
14 ‘Your Heart Will Tell You’, Beryl Markham, Ladies’ Home Journal, January 1944. Despite the unreliablity of the Pobjoy engine, two heroic flights were made using these tiny radial engines; one to Australia and the other across the Andes.
15 Log book entries, 1934.
16 After-dinner conversation with David Allen, Nairobi, April 1986.
17 Florence Desmond, Florence Desmond, Harrap, 1953; and personal interviews with Miss Desmond. Surrey, March and June 1986.
18 C.W.A. Scott. Aviation editor of the News Chronicle and a pilot with great experience dating from World War One. Broke the England– Australia record three times and was a renowned long-distance pilot.
19 Florence Desmond:, Florence Desmond, Harrap, 1953.
20 ibid.; and personal interviews with Miss Desmond, Surrey, March and June 1986.
21 ibid.
22 ibid.
23 East African Standard, 27 October 1934.
24 ibid.
25 Interviews with Miss Florence Desmond, Surrey, March and June 1986.
26 Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, April 1986.
27 Interview with Buster Parnell, Copenhagen, June 1986.
28 Interview with Mrs P. Barclay, Nairobi, April 1986.
29 Florence Desmond:, Florence Desmond, Harrap, 1953; and personal interviews with Miss Desmond, Surrey, March and June 1986.
30 ibid.
31 Log book entries, 1934.
32 Interviews with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, April 1986.
33 Interview with Cockie Hoogterp, June 1986.
34 Out in the Midday Sun, Elspeth Huxley, Chatto & Windus, 1985.
35 ibid.
36 ibid.
37 A wealthy American sportsman whose winning temperament and prowess in sporting and sexual achievements won the friendship and admiration of Ernest Hemingway and Bror Blixen. A well-known polo player, Guest kept a string of ponies in Kenya to ride down buffalo. Blixen worked for Guest in the late 1930s as a huntsman. According to Judith Thurman (see Isak Dinesen: The Life of Karen Blixen): ‘Guest found it difficult to believe that Blicky suffered from tertiary syphilis and described him at fifty as a man of undiminished appetite, stamina and extravagance.’
38 Brev Fran Afrika, Bror Blixen, trans. Gustaf Kleen (Bror’s nephew).
39 ibid.
40 ‘Beryl Markham’. Mervyn F. Hill 1964 (Kenya).
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