'The Englishman's Room'

      A return to the literary work of the late Alvilde Lees Milne (1909-1994).  She was the wife of the James Lees Milne, the writer and diarist, and in her own right a writer and talented garden designer. 

     'The Englishman's Room', 1986, was her second book on interiors, following on from 'The English Woman's House' of 1984. In both books she worked with the photographer Derry Moore. Earlier she had collaborated with fellow gardener and writer Rosemary Verey on 'The English Woman's Garden' and The English Gentleman's Garden'. I think you may be able to spot a pattern here. 

     The format remains the same here as in the earlier books with la Lees Milne supplying a short preface and the gentlemen an essay each on their favourite room, some 33 in all. All the usual suspects are there: David Hicks, Christopher Gibbs, John Milnaric, Richard Buckle and Tom Parr: the sort who will also have appeared in World of Interiors around that time. And there are some new faces too; Gervase Jackson Stops, Gavin Stamp, Simon Blow. Most choose a room in their house or flat, but not all.  Sir John Gielgud, for instance, chose his old dressing room at the Haymarket Theatre. (And very nice it is too.) James Lees Milne chose his place of work: the sumptuous Neo-classical library in Landsdown Crescent, Bath, designed in the 1830s by H E Goodridge for William Beckford.  (The Lees Milnes lived in Badminton, and JLM used to commute daily.)

     'As for my books I simply worship them. I am not a bibliophile and have no rare books, apart from a handful which belonged to Mr Beckford and which I like to think may in his day have reposed upon my shelves. One of the things I most regret is having been obliged at certain times of my life to part with volumes.... I simply have to be surrounded by books of reference. After all, they consist of the profoundest thoughts and most beautiful words of the greatest men and women of the world encapsulated within one's reach. They are the most necessary things in life. They are life itself.' 

     I suppose this book could be seen as a snapshot of 1980s tastes, but I would caution against that idea. Some of these rooms were designed decades, if not centuries before; others are not the work of a single-minded designer or amateur creating a self-conscious piece of design but the gentle, culminative effort of decades; places of practical comfort. It's all pretty timeless really. The only real disappointment is David Hick's bedroom - just a little lifeless. Finally a word about Derry Moore's photography; it is superb.