thoughtfulThe programme’s saving grace was Mr Waugh’s touching filial affection for his late father, Bron, for whom his own sweet son is named. I’ve been missing Auberon Waugh this week. For some time now a copy of his book The Way of the World has been lying around in the sitting room. Every now and then I pick it up, dip in and sit shaking with laughter. It is a rare gift to be able to offend everybody with outwardly outrageous-seeming opinions, to be extremely funny and still to have an important point to make and I can’t think of any journalist today who is doing it. Craig Brown is brilliant but lacks the killer instinct (and is probably a nicer man).
Waugh Jnr. is not so amusing yet he inherits the crown. What does it all come down to? That your grandad was a genius. And yes, Freuds, I’m looking at you, too.
PS Auberon Waugh’s early novels, The Foxglove Saga and the rest, are well worth reading if you can find them.
