Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron Berners, was a well-to-do composer, novelist, and eccentric whose stately home, Faringdon, was where he entertained the likes of Cecil Beaton, Gertrude Stein, Nancy and Diane Mitford, Igor Stravinsky, and Salvador Dali. He was the inspiration for Lord Merlin in Nancy’s The Pursuit of Love. He kept a portable clavichord in his car and had his doves dyed in pastel colors.
Robert Hebert-Percy, the Mad Boy, was his much-younger lover and partner. Surprising everyone, he married Jennifer, a woman his age, who came to live at the estate and they had a child, Victoria. Berners was fond of Jennifer and the baby but the marriage foundered. They divorced and she remarried, more than once. Robert remained at Faringdon and inherited it when Berners died.
Sofka Zinovieff is the daughter of Victoria so the Mad Boy was her grandfather. They had a friendly relationship but weren’t close. When she was in her 20s he asked her to visit, and, to her surprise, told her he was leaving her the estate.
It’s funny and empathetic. Several of the characters’ fathers were closeted gay men in unhappy marriages. Many people in the story went from marriage to affair to affair and the lover of someone in the 30s may reappear in the 40s, now married to someone else. There are many quirky and memorable characters and surprises up to the last chapter. Zinovieff describes it all with sympathy and it’s beautifully illustrated with photos.
As an Anglophile and a fan of the Mitfords and that world, this is just the sort of book I love. It was recommended by the cartoonist Mimi Pond who’s writing a graphic novel about the Mitfords and posting pages on Facebook. ( )

Many names are dropped in this interesting history of the unconventional lives of the inhabitants of an English country house. It provides an absorbing example of how money could insulate those who had it from the mores that were generally applied to the less affluent. A knowledge of British history during the period described might make for a more compelling reading experience. ( )

I really enjoyed this book! The author writes an interesting memoir of her life and how she became the owner of Farringdon House. Quite an eccentric group of people. Lots of details and lots of pictures of the 30’s-40’s in this high society family. ( )

The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me

The ‘Me’ in Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me is Sofka Zinovieff the author of this wonderfully intriguing book about the occupants of an Oxfordshire Manor House in the twentieth century. This is a fun read written in a wonderful and easy to read style packed with some fantastic photographs.

Besides writing about herself Sofka introduces us to the cast her grandmother Jennifer Fry the heir to the Fry Chocolate dynasty and the only daughter of Geoffrey Fry; the mad boy is Robert Heber-Percy who may or may not be the grandfather of the author; Lord Berners is the gay lover and benefactor of Robert, who happens to be eccentric as well as a composer, writer and artist; and the manor house is Farringdon.

Lord Berners throughout the 1930s entertained the fashionable and well connected in society London of the time. Farringdon is where they could come and play not having to worry about what others thought so we get a star studded cast all the way through the book; with people such as The Mitford sisters, HG Wells and Igor Stravinsky the list is endless.

This book enlightens us to Lord Berners and how he became involved in the much younger bisexual Robert. We also get to look inside the world of Jennifer Fry who never does reveal the name of the biological father of Sofka’s mother. If this were today the red top papers would be filling their pages with the gossip of what was happening at Farringdon.

This book is a well presented well written book which lovingly tells us of all the eccentrics and eccentricities that took place at Farringdon. This is a pleasure to read and takes us back to a world that has since died whatever some people say. ( )