Twenty-Four Partial Portraits

This
book celebrates the lives of friends, all much missed, to whom the
writer has an enduring sense of debt. Some made notable contributions in
their chosen spheres: George Finch as mountaineer and scientist; James
Byam Shaw, Sir Brinsley Ford, David Carritt, Sir John Pope-Hennessy and
Benedict Nicholson as connoisseurs and art historians; Uguccione Ranieri
and Sir Steven Runciman as historians; Penelope Betjeman as a travel
writer; Derek Hill as a painter; Contessa Marina Lulung-Buschetti and
her sister, Contessa Anna Maria Cicogna, Gervase Jackson-Stops, M and
Mme Emmanuel de Margerie and the 6th Marquess of Bute to the
preservation and restoration of buildings; while Mrs Vincent Astor and
Drue Heinz were outstandingly generous and perceptive supporters of
numerous civilized and civilizing causes. The lives of some, notably
Richard Cecil, were tragically cut short; others like Sir David Scott,
Lady Bonham-Carter and the Duke of Portland survived to represent links
with what then seemed a distant past.