Product Description

Although Alan Clark died in 1999 his reputation lives on - a TV series (John Hurt as Alan) gave BBC4 its first million+ audience. His diaries (3 vols) sold more than half a million copies. A noted historian, he was Tory MP for Plymouth Sutton and controversial minister under Mrs Thatcher; later MP for Kensington & Chelsea. His biographer has drawn on an Aladdin's cave of papers at the Clarks' Saltwood Castle home in Kent. Ion Trewin tells an enthralling story of the life that Clark himself chose not to discuss: an unhappy childhood with neglectful parents (his art historian father Kenneth Clark, best known for his 'Civilisation' TV series). Fire destroyed his first school; he endured wartime Eton, at Oxford he read history under Hugh Trevor-Roper and drove large cars (he was known as 'Klaxon' Clark). His parents insisted he read law; passing his exams at the 3rd attempt, he never practised. His first novel - accepted on the 13th submission - was pulped because of libel, but went on to gain praise. The Donkeys, his first work of history, brought down the wrath of military historians. Clark changed course and into politics in his forties. Readers may think they know Clark's political life from his diaries, but Clark himself neglected to tell all, about Mrs T's downfall, the Matrix Churchill arms to Iraq scandal and much more. He adored women - Trewin has tracked down his first great love, a ballet dancer, and his last infatuation - and courted a schoolgirl he first met when she was 16 and he 30. This was Jane, to whom he remained married - if not faithfully - until his death from a brain tumour in 1999. The extent of his extra-marital escapades is now revealed. Here for the first time the unknown Alan Clark stands revealed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1211 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-14
• Released on: 2009-09-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 528 pages

Review
'This is a highly entertaining biography' (Robert Harris THE SUNDAY TIMES )

'this is an engaging book about an absolute bastard' (Edwina Currie THE TIMES )

'wonderfully readable and insightful biography' (Peter Bradshaw LONDON EVENING STANDARD )

'Arrogant, rude, clever, charming, witty. A brilliant diarist, a serious military historian and a frustrated - and ultimately unsuccessful and unfulfilled - politician, Alan Clark was also a warm friend. His story is well worth telling and in this book Trewin has captured the essence of an extraordinary man.' (Michael Howard DAILY TELEGRAPH )

'Trewin's account of Clark's prolonged youth is fresh and illuminating.' (Craig Brown THE SPECTATOR )

'it is Jane who makes one believe that perhaps Alan was not such a 'nasty fool' after all.' (Charles Moore THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

'If Clark's diaries are the best political ones of our time, then Ion Trewin has written a biography of the same high quality. I don't believe it could have been better,more intelligently or more sympathetically, done.' (Alan Massie THE SCOTSMAN )

'pacy narrative' (Rachel Cooke THE OBSERVER )

'Clark's worst enemies could not call him a bore, and this book is as interesting as he was... Trewin has produced a compelling study that is both lively and entertaining' (Ann Widdecombe THE GUARDIAN )

'Jane Clark is the radiant heroine of Trewin's book. It is dedicated to her, the text is peppered with her plucky, frank and disarming comments, and enhanced by several heat-wrenchingly beautiful photographs of her. Trewin is protective of her feelings in a way which does credit to her... Ion Trewin is a distinguished publisher, who brings insight to his account of his hero's success as an author.' (Richard Davenport-Hines TLS )

About the Author
Ion Trewin is a London publisher. Originally a journalist and Literary Editor of THE TIMES, 1972-9, he changed gear and into publishing in 1980. He was Alan Clark's editor and publisher from 1992 until his death, and has since edited two further volumes of Alan Clark's DIARIES. His edition of THE HUGO YOUNG PAPERS won the C4 2009 Political Book of the Year Award. Married with a son and daughter, he has since 2006 been literary director of the Man Booker prizes. He was chairman of the Cheltenham Literature Festival 1996-2007.

Customer Reviews

Sad to say, a disappoinment
I am sad to say I don't agree with the critical praise heaped on this biography. I was a huge fan of all 3 volumes of the diaries and eagerly awaited this book, buying it as soon as it appeared in hardback. One day there will be a brilliant biography of Alan Clark but I really don't feel this is it. Firstly the book is very unbalanced, you get over 100 pages recounting his early childhood - a quarter of the 420+ pages, the larger figure quoted above includes all the indexes etc - which would be fine if it was particularly revealing (as with Michael Crick's biography of Jeffrey Archer) but it is all rather dull and didn't help me to understand Clark any better. The sole revelation Trewin manages to come up with is he and father didn't really get on (which is pretty clear from the Diaries) and even this is lacking in any proper analysis as to how it affected AC in his later life. AC and his political career properly starts about page 300.
The real lack of analysis is my major gripe with this book. Contradictions, paradoxes and downright lies all emerge from AC's life but Trewin just doesn't seem brave enough to take them on. Nothing is properly scrutinised or really examined and on one occasion, he leaves a fundamental contradiction in AC's life (his alleged vegetarianism) to a passing comment in a footnote. A few small examples:
(1) AC later claimed to have hated Eton but on all accounts that Trewin has found seems to have enjoyed it at the time. Why claim otherwise later?
(2)AC claimed to be vegetarian but it is clear from the Diaries that he isn't. Why say this?
(3) AC clearly lied about the source of the 'Donkeys' quote - why did he do this and what does it say about his character that he would do such a thing? Everybody had heard of the quote. Why not just leave it unattributed?
(4) AC seems to have loved Jane passionately but he cheated on her compulsively. What drove him to do this? Compulsive cheating is often a sign of trying to make up for some form of inadequacy. is this true for AC?
(5) AC described Jane before their marriage as the "perfect little victim". What exactly did he mean by this? Was it just a poor taste joke?
(6) Would AC have really let the Matrix Churchill defendants go to prison? (it is interesting that Trewin doesn't cite or quote Geoffrey Robertson QC's book which has a whole chapter on the trial and the build up to cross-examining AC).
(7) Trewin describes Michael Howard MP as a close friend but ignores AC's expressed wish in the last volume of the Diaries that MH die suddenly so he could have his seat in Parliament! What does this say about AC?
There are surely some interesting answers to these questions but I am afraid you won't find them here. No one expects cast iron answers but to have some debate would be nice. I often feel that it is in people's contradictions that we really begin to understand their true character.
Some sections (especially the sections on the 'Coven' and Alison Young) are incredibly brief and unsatisfactory and read as if Trewin is writing with a libel lawyer (or Jane Clark) peering over his shoulder. The Coven section is very poorly handled and fails to explain the one factor that almost everybody would immediately want to ask. How on earth did he end up having an affair with a mother and both her daughters? Did they know about each other at the time? Was it consecutive affairs or concurrent? None of this is explained and by the end of this book I felt that I knew no more about this episode of AC's life than I did from reading the Diaries and glancing at the front page of the News of the World.
Towards the end Trewin quotes more and more sections of the Diaries verbatim (the Heron, being "drunk" at the dispatch box, Thatcher's fall, his Bill on the Fur Trade etc) but - as I can't see anybody reading this book who hasn't already read the Diaries - this seemed a bit lazy (and as usual, none of the verbatim quotes is subject to any real analysis, so you are just left to make your own mind up anyway). Towards the end Trewin actually discusses the creation of the published Diaries themselves (he was their editor) and in one gob-smacking moment casually drops in that AC wasn't above "retouching" his Diary entries with hindsight. This just passes by as if it is nothing, but given how much Trewin has quoted from them with little or no comment, this is surely a huge issue? How many entries? What sort of changes? Trewin was his editor, he could at least give us some examples of the sort of alterations so we can see how accurately we should regard the Diaries as a primary source.
I am sorry to be negative about this book. I really wanted to love it but I feel it is very flawed. I can't help feeling that its status as the 'official' biography has handicapped it. Even in the reviews and articles written at the time of publication, a lot of interesting stories came out (for example, AC's pretty obnoxious behaviour towards the Times journalist Minette Marin) all of which feel as if they should have been within the pages of this volume. I want to read the definitive biography. Will somebody else have a go?

enjoyable romp
The late Alan Clark is understood to have enjoyed a few romps in his time, and the style of this very balanced and readable account is in keeping with the often bawdy antics of its subject.
The author is particularly strong on the valuable and often little reported work that this colourful character did for Britain behind the scenes. We will not see his like again and politics and public life are all the blander for it. Strong on detail and vivid characterisation, this account of Clark's life thunders along.
If I could find a weakness, it was in the sometimes overdone theorising on the theme of Clark's fathers influence on his life and subsequent development, but this apart, I found much to commend in this skilfully composed account of a much misunderstood politician.

What would Alan have thought of this?


As yet another fan of AC who has waited years for the official biography, I too am enormously disappointed by this 'official' biography. The author's prose style is Ford Prefect compared to his subject's Lagonda. Where is the flair and the scandal which AC would surely have expected to see in his biograpy? AC was never dull and its outrageous that this book is just that. AC's life had so many contradictions, especially in his private life, and the book fails to explore anything in any depth. He adored Jane yet felt compelled to court other women. He adored Margaret Thatcher yet deliberately antagonized her with his mammal protection bill and his hypocrisy in wearing leather shoes. Endless interesting material for a good biographer... one day.