
Hellfire
Evelyn Waugh and the Hypocrites Club
David Fleming(Author)
The History Press Ltd
Published on 13. October 2022
Book
Hardback
978-0-7509-9928-1 (ISBN)
Description
Late one evening in March 1924, a tipsy young nun was seen trying to slip into Balliol, an all-male Oxford college, just as the gates were about to close for the night. The nun - subsequently unmasked as the son of the college bursar - was returning after a fancy-dress party at a notorious Oxford social club, one known to the university proctors for its hedonistic ways, heavy drinking and wayward behaviour. This was the final straw; the club was shut down.
Described by one habitue as 'a kind of early twentieth-century Hell Fire Club', the Hypocrites Club counted some of the brightest of the future 'Bright Young People' among its members. The one-time secretary was Evelyn Waugh, who used ten of his fellow Hypocrites as inspiration for his fictional characters - seven of them in Brideshead Revisited alone.
The Hypocrites didn't just lend themselves to Waugh's fiction. Many went on to prominence themselves, including Anthony Powell, Robert Byron, Henry Green, Claud Cockburn and Tom Driberg. **Hellfire is the first full-length portrait of this scandalous club and its famous members, who continued to be thorns in the Establishment's side - throughout war and austerity - for the next five decades.**
Described by one habitue as 'a kind of early twentieth-century Hell Fire Club', the Hypocrites Club counted some of the brightest of the future 'Bright Young People' among its members. The one-time secretary was Evelyn Waugh, who used ten of his fellow Hypocrites as inspiration for his fictional characters - seven of them in Brideshead Revisited alone.
The Hypocrites didn't just lend themselves to Waugh's fiction. Many went on to prominence themselves, including Anthony Powell, Robert Byron, Henry Green, Claud Cockburn and Tom Driberg. **Hellfire is the first full-length portrait of this scandalous club and its famous members, who continued to be thorns in the Establishment's side - throughout war and austerity - for the next five decades.**
Reviews / Votes
'... A constant pleasure.' -- Mark Amory * <i>The Spectator</i> * 'a fascinating and well-told account of an extraordinary group of figures in interwar Oxford, including Waugh, Anthony Powell and the political journalist Claud Cockburn.' * <i>The Article</i> * 'This is a pacey and colourful read ... elegantly written.' -- Daisy Dunn * <i>The Times</i> * 'At a rollicking pace, it follows the post-Oxford careers of all the main Hypocrites ... Waugh addicts will wish to add it to their shelves.' -- A.N. Wilson * <i>Times Literary Supplement</i> * Daily Mail top ten history book of 2022More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Stroud
United Kingdom
Illustrations
20 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-7509-9928-1 (9780750999281)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
10/2022
The History Press Ltd
€6.99
Available for download
Person
DAVID FLEMING has been an award-winning documentary filmmaker and a journalist, whose articles have appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph and The Mail on Sunday. He co-wrote Barging around Britain (Penguin, 2015) with John Sergeant, which accompanied the BBC television series.