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White Mischief

Page 35

by James Fox


  Poppy, Superintendent Arthur, 172–3, 186, 243: investigates murder, 95, 96, 100, 101, 103–6: evidence against Broughton, 114–16, 117: evidence at Broughton’s trial, 161: Connolly interviews, 176–80: on Soames, 189, 197, 200: and Broughton’s insurance claims, 250, 260–1, 263–4: opinion of Colvile, 273

  Portman, Gerald, 82, 92, 97, 100, 113, 165, 169, 178

  Press Council, 151, 152, 186, 188

  Preston, Kiki, 36–7, 286

  Quennell, Peter, 139, 140–1, 147, 154

  Ramsay-Hill, Major Cyril, 48–9

  Ramsay-Hill, Molly (later Countess of Erroll), 48–50, 51–2, 163, 235, 304

  Ratcliff, Evelyn, 149–50

  Reay, Tessa, 221–4, 225–6

  Repton, Dushka, 39, 74–5, 194 272

  Repton, Guy, 39

  Richie, Archie, 37

  Ridley, Mervin, 77

  Rift Valley, 11, 14, 22

  Rocco, Count, 161

  Roosevelt, Theodore, 12

  Rosebery, Lord, 62

  Rothschild, Jimmy de, 220

  Rutt, Isabel; 89, 99, 310

  Si Albans, Duke of, 232

  Scott, Lady Eileen, 23, 34–5, 51

  Scott, Lord Francis, 22–3, 34, 50, 60, 71, 77, 104, 187, 233

  Scott, Pam, 158

  Second World War, 1–2

  Shapley, Walter, 187–8, 304

  Sheridan, Sir Joseph, 112

  Sitwell, Sir Sacheverell, 31, 152

  Soames, Gloria, 78, 195

  Soames, Jack, 39, 40, 61, 76, 77, 173, 232; background, 24: character, 77–8, 194 advises Broughton, 85–6: shooting practice on his farm, 101, 104, 116, 121–2, 124, 189–92: evidence at Broughton’s trial, 160, 189–93: as suspect, 1–69, 208: illegal arms deals, 197, 199–200: possible accessory to murder, 200

  Somalis, 18, 178

  Somerset, Betty, 65

  Soysainbu, 274, 276–7, 295–6, 301–2

  Spicer, Lady Avice, 108

  Stahremberg, Prince, 65–6

  Sunday Tunes Magazine, 3, 139–40, 142–53, 170, 303

  Swayne, Inspector, 97, 98

  Symons, Julian, 145–6, 186

  Tanga, 10

  Tanganyika, 13

  Taru desert, 11

  Thika, 19.

  Timms, Geottrey, 96

  Trafford, Alice de (formerly de Janzé), 35, 57, 81, 106, 199, 210: affair with Erroll, 41, 45–7, 213: background, 42–4: marriage to de Trafford, 55: and Erroll’s murder, 98: rumours of her involvement in murder, 159–60: as suspect, 167, 208, 213–19; alibi, 178; and Soames, 195: death, 173, 218–19

  Trafford, Raymond de, 36, 37, 40, 45–6, 55, 147, 213

  Trench, Dan, 197–200, 312

  Trench, Maxwell, 74, 197, 312

  Trench, Nancy, 198–9

  Tsavo, 10

  Tyler, Humphrey, 165–6, 201–2

  Uganda, 13

  Upper Grosvenor Gallery, London, 308

  Victoria, Lake, 10

  Vint, Dr Francis, 115–16

  Vol, 11

  Waiweru, 84, 86–7, 121, 165

  Wallis, Fabian, 35–6, 305

  Wanjohi River, 2, 25

  Ward, Roddy, 187

  Ward, Valerie (Lady Barwick), 182, 187–8, 210–12

  Wardell, Hilda, 56–7

  Waugh, Evelyn, 24, 27, 36

  Westmorland, David (Burghie), 223

  Wheelock, 232, 234

  White Highlands, 2, 13–25

  White’s (London club), 147, 220

  Wilks, Dorothy, 73, 80, 93, 104, 114, 117, 120–1, 165–6, 171–2, 201–7, 211–12, 255

  Wilmot, Laurie, 210

  Windishgraetz, Prince, 158–9, 162

  Wirewater, Nancy, 53, 79, 160, 178, 213, 218, 270

  Woodhouse, Marie, 107–8, 110, 231–2, 234, 238–9, 241–2, 250, 251, 253–6, 257

  Wright, Mr, 171

  Wyndham, Francis, 142, 143, 174–5

  Wynne Eaton, Jane, 239

  Zanzibar, 181

  IMAGE GALLERY

  Happy Valley, 1928: the wedding of Nina Layman and Jack Soames. Back row, centre: Lay Idina Hay; Josslyn Hay (in bow tie), who became the Earl of Erroll in that year; Alice de Janzé (right, in black hat); foreground: Michael Lafone.

  1929: John Carberry (left); Nina and Jack Soames on the steps of their house at Burgeret, Nanyuki.

  Clouds: Joss and Idina’s house in the Aberdare mountains, which from 1925 was the headquarters of Happy Valley.

  Alice de Janzé with her daughters, Paola (right) and Nolwen, shortly before Alice left them to take up permanent residence in Happy Valley.

  Muthaiga Country Club in the late 1920s—the stronghold of the up-country settlers.

  The veranda, with sleeping figure, of Oserian, the ‘Djinn Palace’, on Lake Naivasha.

  Idina, Countess of Erroll, the guiding light of Happy Valley.

  The inner circle (front row, from left): Alice de Janzé, Idina Erroll, Joss Erroll, Michael Lafone.

  Josslyn Victor Hay, later Earl of Erroll and hereditary High Constable of Scotland, aged twenty-three.

  Sir Jock Delves Broughton and Vera, Lady Broughton: their last public appearance together in 1938, at the marriage of their daughter.

  The house at Karen leased by Broughton soon after his arrival in Kenya in 1940.

  Joss Erroll and his second wife, Molly, on a return visit to London from Kenya in 1937.

  White Highlands settlers, mid-1930s, including, third from left, Patricia Bowles.

  June Carberry in 1930, the year of her marriage.

  Sir Jock Delves Broughton in 1938.

  Hugh Dickinson and Diana Broughton in the garden of their house at Karen, just before Christmas, 1940.

  Diana Caldwell in 1937, photographed by Lenare.

  Joss Erroll and Diana Broughton at the height of their short romance in early January 1941, taking the ferry at Kilifi Creek.

  Juanita Carberry at Seremai in 1940.

  Diana Broughton in the garden at Karen, with pet mongoose.

  The junction of the Karen and Ngong roads. The Buick was found on the right-hand verge of the main road, 150 yards beyond the junction.

  The scene of the crime on the morning of January 24th, 1941, shortly before Erroll’s body was removed from the Buick.

  Police photographs of Erroll’s body in the footwell of the Buick.

  Erroll’s body in the mortuary, showing the penetration mark of the bullet and the scorchmarks of black powder surrounding the ear.

  Diana Broughton on a safari in the Southern Masai Reserve, three weeks after the murder of Joss Erroll.

  Alice de Janzé in the Wanjohi Valley, 1926, with her pet lion cub, Samson.

  Dorothy Wilks, Diana’s maid at Karen in 1940, in her flat in Durban in 1969.

  Gwaldys, Lady Delamere, the mayor of Nairobi, in 1935.

  Juanita Carberry, in her garden in Mombassa, 1979.

  Abdullah bin Ahmed, photographed in 1979.

  Diana, Lady Delamere in 1969 receiving the Uhuru Cup from President Jomo Kenyatta at Nairobi racecourse.

  Diana, Lady Delamere with black marlin at Pemba Channel, Kenya in February 1982.

  Cyril Connolly with his son Matthew at Eastbourne shortly before his death in 1974.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I owe a special debt of gratitude to Francis Wyndham, Tom Maschler, Cloe Fox, Joanna Bridge, Faith Evans, Jonathan Galassi and Fred Seidel. And, of course, to Cyril Connolly.

  I would also like to express my sincere thanks to the following for providing me with their reminiscences, their advice, their help and, in many cases, with their generous hospitality, both in England and during my visit to Kenya in 1979: David Allen, Jim Allen, Petal Allen, Lady Altrincham, Hermione Baddeley, Sandy Birkbeck, Anstis Bewes, Jack and Doria Block, Sir Michael Blundell, Patricia Bowles, Sir Evelyn and Lady Delves Broughton, Lady Elizabeth Byng, Julian Byng, Juanita Carberry, the Earl of Carnarvon, Bruce Chatwin, Lady Clark, Quentin Crewe, Lady d’ Avigdor Goldsmid, Hugh Dickinson, Nina Drury, Dicky Ed
mondson, Lady Erskine, Charles Erskine, Francis Erskine, Mary Ann Fitzgerald, Alastair Forbes, Udi Gecaga, George Githii, Alfred Harwich, Cockie Hoogterp, Alan Horne, Sir Charles Johnston, Tim Jones, Deirdre Levi, Paula Long, Beryl Markham, Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk, Lady Mosley, Mark Peploe, Lady Antonia Pinter, Peggy Pitt, Benjamin Pogrund, Arthur Poppy, Peter Quennell, Tessa Reay, Dushka Repton, Mirella Ricciardi, Sylvia Richardson, Pamela Scott, Sir Sacheverell Sitwell, Louise Stjernsward, Xan Smiley, Dan Trench, Errol Trzebinski, Sbish Trzebinski, Humphrey Tyler, Lady Jane Wellesley, Martin Wilkinson, Stella Wilkinson, Marie Woodhouse.

  I would also like to thank Xan Smiley for his permission to use extracts from the diaries of his grandmother, Lady Francis Scott.

  The epitaph Fu I on p. 30 is reprinted by permission of Faber & Faber Ltd from Collected Shorter Poems by Ezra Pound.

  Above all, my special thanks to Diana, Lady Delamere, for talking to me about the events of 1941.

  1982 J.F.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  James Fox was born in Washington, DC, in 1945 and educated in England. In addition to the international bestseller White Mischief, he is the author of The Langhorne Sisters and the coauthor of Life, Keith Richards’s autobiography. Fox lives in London with his wife and sons.

  All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

  Copyright © 1982 by James Fox

  Cover design by Mauricio Diaz

  ISBN: 978-1-4804-8917-2

  This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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