serious pleasures the life of stephen tennant

Stephen Tennant's biography 'Serious Pleasures' by Philip Hoare, contains the most in-depth look at his life. Agent: Gillon Aitken, Aitken Alexander Associates. At his peak he was called 'the brightest' of the Bright Young People, a nickname given by the tabloid press to a group of Bohemian young aristocrats and socialites in 1920s London. Hoare's writing awakens the senses with visions, sounds, and smells of the ocean his delight and interest in nature will encourage readers to look around with new eyes. Hoare swims with dolphins, observes a porpoise autopsy, and visits the island of Kapiti, an avian reserve. He lives in Hoxton, London, and Southampton, and each summer visits Cape Cod, where, as a member of the Center for Coastal Studies, he. A journey to Tasmania reminds Hoare of his ancestors who landed there and brings to mind the haunting tale of the Tasmanian tiger, possibly hunted to extinction decades ago but with rumored sightings in recent years. Philip Hoare is the author of several books, including 'Serious Pleasures: The Life of Stephen Tennant' 'Noel Coward: A Biography' 'Oscar Wilde's Last Stand' 'Spike Island' and 'England's Lost Eden'. He encounters sperm whales around the Azores, sharing how they hear sound and make vibrations, and blue whales in the Indian Ocean, contemplating how near they came to extinction due to hunting. On the Isle of Wight, he discusses ravens and the life of pilgrims. Hoare's writing reads like a postcard or journal demarcating his travels. A regular visitor to the sea near his home in England, Hoare shares his love and fascination for nature of all kinds, from the Eurasian oystercatcher and seals to the vestigial structures humans possess that provide evidence of ancestry. Hoare (The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea) takes readers on a leisurely and lyrical tour of the world's waters and their inhabitants. This stage of his life is pitilessly described by his niece, Emma Tennant, in her novel The House of Hospitalities. His hair was long and dyed mauve, he wore kaftans and many gilded bangles. He became a recluse, redecorating Wilsford with fishnets, pink satin and golden conch shells. When he returned to Wilsford, Tennant led an indolent existence on his comfortable inhertance and worked for 40 years on his novel Lascar.

At this time he became the adored of Siegfried Sassoon and spent his convalescence with him in the Mediterranean. After his 21st birthday, his life went downhill. Here he was photographed by Cecil Beaton to become one of the typical images of 1920s beautiful young people.

In his early youth he entertained his friends at his mother, Lady Glenconner's manor house Wilsford Manor in Wiltshire. He appears in numerous biographies about the 1920s and 1930s and he was the model for Cedric Hampton in Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford. Stephen Tennant died intestate in 1987, aged 80, and has become a cult figure.

Serious pleasures the life of stephen tennant