Robert Byron: A Biography by James Knox John Murray $325 James Knox offers a studied portrait of fellow Etonian and early 20th-century travel, history, art and architecture writer Robert Byron, who dared to delve into cultures of countries rarely glimpsed by the leisure visitor of his day. The former publisher of The Spectator magazine takes us through a lengthy period of Byron's formative years at Eton and Merton College, Oxford. The first of these institutions instilled the discipline needed to apply himself to research, while the second cemented his social circle. Academically, Byron picked up a low-grade degree before being kicked out for anti-establishment behaviour. But through his participation in the Hypocrites Club, Byron made lifelong friends with some equally independent thinkers, including budding fellow authors Anthony Powell and Evelyn Waugh. Byron died at the age of 35 on a non-military vessel heading for Cairo in 1941. His latter years were spent as a radio correspondent for the BBC, reporting from far-flung corners on why fragments of the British empire should support Britain in the war. Byron's broadcasting career never had a chance to bloom, unlike his career in print journalism, which made up his main income. He began writing travel pieces for Vogue in 1926 - months after being let go from his job writing news briefs for London's The Daily Mail at the age of 21. During his short book writing career, Greece, Tibet and India most inspired Byron. He was particularly taken by the Byzantine era, securing a book deal on the subject after spending several months in the monasteries of Mount Athos in Greece, where he became entranced by the vertiginous buildings in the rock face. This allowed him to return to Greece for a second and more thorough exploration, before writing the critically acclaimed The Byzantine Achievement. Knox tells of a bizarre period after this in 1928 when Byron wrote 'light social pieces' for Vogue. One surmised, in the run-up to a general election, that the outcome largely depended on the looks of each candidate. Labour candidate Oliver Baldwin was tipped by Byron for his 'classic profile and buttercup tresses', while Lord Elmley's blue eyes 'have won all Norfolk with their mute denial of Liberal decline'. Byron had little time for a love life, according to Knox, save for short-lived homosexual intimacies - some of which sent him into brief infatuations. Byron picked up a low-grade degree before being kicked out for anti-establishment behaviour
