16 discoverbritainmag.comENGLISH ECCENTRICSaround 30,000 objects in total, many of which are
on display today.
Wade had been collecting since childhood.
His inspiration was his Grannie Spencer who had a
cabinet stuffed with objects that she collected – this
now lives at Snowshill, which he gave to the National
Trust in 1951. It is said that, given the house was
packed to the rafters, there was no room for Wade
himself to live in it and so he set up home in the
increasingly cluttered Priest’s House. Quite where the
likes of Graham Greene, John Betjeman or Virginia
Woolf would have rested their heads when they came
to stay is not clear. What we can say for sure is that
Wade liked to dress up in one of his suits of armour
and jump out of the shadows to frighten his guests.
Another aristocrat who was born in the same year
and delighted in frightening people was Gerald Hugh
Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron Berners, who would don
a pig’s head mask when driving his Rolls Royce in
order to scare unassuming locals near his Oxfordshire
home of Faringdon House.
Lord Berners also kept a pet giraffe and would
dye the doves on his estate many vivid colours.
Meanwhile, his dogs would roam the house and
gardens wearing strings of pearls, much to the
amusement of guests including artist Salvador Dalí
and the writers Aldous Huxley and Gertrude Stein.
Visitors to the 140-foot folly tower that loomed
over the estate were met with a sign at the entrance
which said: “Members of the Public committing
suicide from this tower do so at their own risk”.
Perhaps one of the most unusual things about Lord
Berners, however, was the familial set-up at Faringdon.
In 1931, his companion Robert Heber-Percy moved
in, bringing with him an energetic sense of fun that
earned him the nickname “Mad Boy”. He surprisingly➤To p: Torre Abbey in Torquay
Above: A 1926 newspaper
clipping reporting on
Christie’s disappearance
Right: The author’s former
bedroom at Greenway
Opposite page: The Morning
Room at Greenway, featuring
a portrait of the author aged
4 by Douglas-John Connah BRIDGEMANIMAGES/HULTONDEUTSCH/CORBISHISTORICAL/GETTYIMAGES/PEAKSCAPE/ALAMYmarried socialite Jennifer
Fry who gave birth to their
daughter Victoria. Victoria’s
own daughter, writer Sofka
Zinovieff, was chatelaine of
Faringdon until 2017 when
it was sold.
Away from this, Lord
Berners was a brilliant
composer, making music
for ballets and films, a fact
that is often forgotten. No
less than Igor Stravinsky
claimed Lord Berners was
the best British composer
of the 20th century.
As Lord Berner
demonstrated, diktats on
signs do seem to be another
signifier of aristocratic
eccentricity. Guests arriving
at Derbyshire’s Renishaw
Hall, a handsome gothic pile
and home of Victorian
eccentric and Conservative
MP Sir George Sitwell, would be met with a sign
stating the terms of their engagement at the property,
according to their host: “I must ask anyone entering
the house never to contradict me or differ from me in
any way, as it interferes with the functioning of my
gastric juices and prevents my sleeping at night.”
If this request makes Sir George seem stern, serious
or simply sociopathic, he had misrepresented himself.
After all his pastimes included forging a career as an
inventor: he created a musical toothbrush, a pistol for
shooting wasps, and a snack for travellers which was
essentially an egg-shaped ball of meat and rice.
None of which, it is fair to say, have become
indispensable household items.
Sir George was nevertheless obsessive in his
interests, which included all things Italian –
particularly gardening – and the Medieval period.
These obsessions spilled over into his everyday life
and he would try to pay his way with 14th-century
currency or barter with produce grown on the estate.
Sir George was also a keen scribe, completing many
unpublished manuscripts such as A Short History of
the Fork. Despite being a father to three children –
Osbert, Sacheverell and Edith; the latter a noted
poet and critic – Sir George preferred the company
of his butler, Henry Moat, described by Edith
as “an enormous purple man, like a benevolent
hippopotamus”. Clearly, the offbeat wit of her
father lived in her, too.
English eccentrics can often prove inspirational.
Mr Badger, from Kenneth Grahame’s much-loved
children’s literary masterpiece The Wind in the
Willows, was based upon one such real-life character.
William Cavendish, the 5th Duke of Portland,
was Grahame’s source material, thanks to theAbove: Sir George Sitwell MP
and daughter Edith, a portrait
by John Singer Sargent
Below: Lord Berners painting
Penelope Betjeman’s horse
Opposite page: Renishaw
Hall in Derbyshire010-018_DB_English Eccentrics_AprMay20.indd 16 25/02/2020 14:16 discoverbritainmag.com
ENGLISH ECCENTRICS
around 30,000 objects in total, many of which are
on display today.
Wade had been collecting since childhood.
His inspiration was his Grannie Spencer who had a
cabinet stuffed with objects that she collected – this
now lives at Snowshill, which he gave to the National
Trust in 1951. It is said that, given the house was
packed to the rafters, there was no room for Wade
himself to live in it and so he set up home in the
increasingly cluttered Priest’s House. Quite where the
likes of Graham Greene, John Betjeman or Virginia
Woolf would have rested their heads when they came
to stay is not clear. What we can say for sure is that
Wade liked to dress up in one of his suits of armour
and jump out of the shadows to frighten his guests.
Another aristocrat who was born in the same year
and delighted in frightening people was Gerald Hugh
Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron Berners, who would don
a pig’s head mask when driving his Rolls Royce in
order to scare unassuming locals near his Oxfordshire
home of Faringdon House.
Lord Berners also kept a pet giraffe and would
dye the doves on his estate many vivid colours.
Meanwhile, his dogs would roam the house and
gardens wearing strings of pearls, much to the
amusement of guests including artist Salvador Dalí
and the writers Aldous Huxley and Gertrude Stein.
Visitors to the 140-foot folly tower that loomed
over the estate were met with a sign at the entrance
which said: “Members of the Public committing
suicide from this tower do so at their own risk”.
Perhaps one of the most unusual things about Lord
Berners, however, was the familial set-up at Faringdon.
In 1931, his companion Robert Heber-Percy moved
in, bringing with him an energetic sense of fun that
earned him the nickname “Mad Boy”. He surprisingly
➤ BRIDGEMAN IMAGES/HULTON DEUTSCH/CORBIS HISTORICAL/GETTY IMAGES/PEAKSCAPE/ALAMYmarried socialite Jennifer
Fry who gave birth to their
daughter Victoria. Victoria’s
own daughter, writer Sofka
Zinovieff, was chatelaine of
Faringdon until 2017 when
it was sold.
Away from this, Lord
Berners was a brilliant
composer, making music
for ballets and films, a fact
that is often forgotten. No
less than Igor Stravinsky
claimed Lord Berners was
the best British composer
of the 20th century.
As Lord Berner
demonstrated, diktats on
signs do seem to be another
signifier of aristocratic
eccentricity. Guests arriving
at Derbyshire’s Renishaw
Hall, a handsome gothic pile
and home of Victorian
eccentric and Conservative
MP Sir George Sitwell, would be met with a sign
stating the terms of their engagement at the property,
according to their host: “I must ask anyone entering
the house never to contradict me or differ from me in
any way, as it interferes with the functioning of my
gastric juices and prevents my sleeping at night.”
If this request makes Sir George seem stern, serious
or simply sociopathic, he had misrepresented himself.
After all his pastimes included forging a career as an
inventor: he created a musical toothbrush, a pistol for
shooting wasps, and a snack for travellers which was
essentially an egg-shaped ball of meat and rice.
None of which, it is fair to say, have become
indispensable household items.
Sir George was nevertheless obsessive in his
interests, which included all things Italian –
particularly gardening – and the Medieval period.
These obsessions spilled over into his everyday life
and he would try to pay his way with 14th-century
currency or barter with produce grown on the estate.
Sir George was also a keen scribe, completing many
unpublished manuscripts such as A Short History of
the Fork. Despite being a father to three children –
Osbert, Sacheverell and Edith; the latter a noted
poet and critic – Sir George preferred the company
of his butler, Henry Moat, described by Edith
as “an enormous purple man, like a benevolent
hippopotamus”. Clearly, the offbeat wit of her
father lived in her, too.
English eccentrics can often prove inspirational.
Mr Badger, from Kenneth Grahame’s much-loved
children’s literary masterpiece The Wind in the
Willows, was based upon one such real-life character.
William Cavendish, the 5th Duke of Portland,
was Grahame’s source material, thanks to theAbove: Sir George Sitwell MP
and daughter Edith, a portrait
by John Singer Sargent
Below: Lord Berners painting
Penelope Betjeman’s horse
Opposite page: Renishaw
Hall in Derbyshire