Richard George Hubert Plunket Greene (1 July 1901 – 25 March 1978) was an English racing motorist, a jazz musician and author.

Biography

Richard George Hubert Plunket Greene was born on 1 July 1901, the son of

Harry Plunket Greene Harry Plunket Greene (24 June 1865 – 19 August 1936) was an Irish baritone who was most famous in the formal concert and oratorio repertoire. He wrote and lectured on his art, and was active in the field of musical competitions and examinations ...

, an Irish baritone who was most famous in the formal concert and oratorio repertoire, and Gwendolen Maud Parry, the daughter of

Hubert Parry Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 18487 October 1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Born in Richmond Hill in Bournemouth, Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is b ...

, English composer, teacher and historian of music. His grandmother, Louisa Lelias (Lilias) Plunket, was an author as well (''Bound by a spell, or The Hunted Witch of the Forest'', 1885). He attended

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

where he formed a long-lasting friendship with

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

, who at one time, in the 1920s, was in love with Plunket Greene's sister,

Olivia Plunket Greene Olivia Honor Mary Plunket Greene (7 March 1907 – 11 November 1958), together with her brothers Richard and David, was part of the Bright Young Things who inspired the novel ''Vile Bodies'' by Evelyn Waugh, who was Olivia's suitor. Biography Sh ...

. Waugh described him as "a piratical in appearance, sometimes wearing ear-rings, a good man in a boat, a heavy smoker of dark, strong tobacco, tinged, as were his siblings, with melancholy, but also infused with a succession of wild, obsessive enthusiasms. He brought to the purchase of a pipe or a necktie the concentration of a collector. During the next few years I saw him become a connoisseur of wine, a racing motorist, an exponent of the latest jazz, the author of a detective novel". The 1930 novel ''

Vile Bodies Vile may refer to: Characters * Vile (Mega Man X), a character from the Mega Man X game series * Doctor Vile (Dr. Weil), a character from the Mega Man Zero game series * V.I.L.E., a fictional villain group in the ''Carmen Sandiego'' franchise ...

'', satirising the

Bright Young Things __NOTOC__ The Bright Young Things, or Bright Young People, was a nickname given by the tabloid press to a group of Bohemianism, Bohemian young Aristocracy (class), aristocrats and socialites in 1920s London. They threw flamboyant costume party, f ...

, the decadent young London society between World War I and World War II, is partly inspired by the Plunket Greene family. Always at Oxford Richard Plunket Greene made friends with

Anthony Powell Anthony Dymoke Powell ( ; 21 December 1905 – 28 March 2000) was an English novelist best known for his 12-volume work ''A Dance to the Music of Time'', published between 1951 and 1975. It is on the list of longest novels in English. Powell' ...

. He was also friend with

Rosa Lewis Rosa Lewis (''née'' Ovenden; 1867–1952) was an English cook and owner of The Cavendish Hotel in London, located at the intersection of Jermyn Street and Duke Street, St. James. Known as the "Queen of Cooks", her culinary skills were highly pri ...

. In the 1920s he was a school-master at Aston Clinton School and it was him that introduced Waugh to the school’s headmaster, Albert Edward Bredan-Crawford. The Plunket Greene's siblings, Richard, Olivia and David, went often to New York City, to have their trousers cut properly and to frequent the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...

clubs. Richard Plunket Green was a jazz musician and composer. He was a racing sports cars fan and competitor, on 8 August 1928, and on 17 August 1929 he took part at the Tourist Trophy with a

Frazer Nash Frazer Nash was a brand of British sports car manufactured from 1922 first by Frazer Nash Limited founded by engineer Archibald Frazer-Nash. On its financial collapse in 1927 a new company, AFN Limited, was incorporated. Control of AFN passed t ...

Boulogne. For a short period he was a business partner of sports-car designer

Archibald Frazer-Nash Archibald Goodman Frazer Nash (30 June 1889 – 10 March 1965), was an early English motor car designer, engineer, and inventor who specialised in manufacturer of light "cycle cars" and sports cars in England. Nash added his third name Frazer ...

. On 21 December 1926 Evelyn Waugh was best man at Richard Plunket Greene's wedding to Elizabeth Frances Russell (1899-1979), first cousin once removed of

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

. Her aunts were Flora Russell and Diana Russell and her great-grandmother was

Diana Russell, Duchess of Bedford Diana Russell, Duchess of Bedford (née Lady Diana Spencer; 31 July 1710 – 27 September 1735), was a member of the Spencer family, chiefly remembered because of an unsuccessful attempt to arrange a marriage for her with Frederick, Prince of W ...

Patrick Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross John Patrick Douglas Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross (25 June 1904 – 4 June 1976) was a Scottish historian and writer noted for his biography of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and other works on Islamic history. Early life Balfour was born on 25 June ...

was a guest at the wedding. They had one son Alexander Plunket Greene (1932-1990), who married fashion designer

Mary Quant Dame Barbara Mary Quant, Mrs Plunket Greene, (born 11 February 1930)The Mary Quant exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2019-20 stated her year of birth as 1930, and that she became a student at Goldsmiths College around 1950. is a ...

. Plunket Greene and Russell divorced in 1943. In 1932 a story by Plunket Greene, ''A Gamble in Clocks'', appeared in ''Life And Letters Vol. VIII No. 46 September, 1932'', edited by

Desmond MacCarthy Sir Charles Otto Desmond MacCarthy FRSL (20 May 1877 – 7 June 1952) was a British writer and the foremost literary critic, literary and dramatic critic of his day. He was a member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, fro ...

. Together with his wife, in 1932 he wrote ''Where Ignorance is Bliss'', and alone ''The Bandits'', both published with John Murray. In 1934 they wrote ''Eleven-Thirty Till Twelve'', a detective novel set in London Society. Richard Plunket Greene died in 1978 in Falmer, England, and is buried at St Andrew Churchyard, Hurstbourne Priors, Hampshire, near his father and his brother David. When

Harman Grisewood Harman Joseph Gerard Grisewood, CBE (8 February 1906 – 8 January 1997) was an English radio actor, radio and television executive, novelist and non-fiction writer.

, who wanted to write a biography of Gwendolen Maud, Plunket Greene's mother, wrote to Alexander Plunket Greene, this latter told him that his father destroyed everything to do with the family, all correspondence included.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plunket Greene, Richard 1901 births 1978 deaths Jazz musicians British_detective_fiction_writers