Virginia Margaret Graham (1 November 1910 – 17 February 1993) was a London-born English writer, critic and poet, whose humorous verses on

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

subjects were republished in London by

Persephone Books ''Persephone Books'' is an independent publisher based in Bath, England. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone Books reprints works largely by women writers of the late 19th and 20th century, though a few books by men are included. Th ...

in 2000 as ''Consider the Years 1938–1946''. The first edition was published in 1946 by Jonathan Cape. She had a long correspondence with

Joyce Grenfell Joyce Irene Grenfell OBE (''née'' Phipps; 10 February 1910 – 30 November 1979) was an English diseuse, singer, actress and writer. She was known for the songs and monologues she wrote and performed, at first in revues and later in her solo s ...

, which was later published.

Early life

Virginia Graham was the only child of the humorist and poet, Harry Graham (''Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless People''), and Dorothy Villiers, who married in 1910. She was a

Christian Scientist Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally known ...

. Brought up near

Hyde Park, London Hyde Park is a Grade I-listed major park in Westminster, Greater London, the largest of the four Royal Parks that form a chain from the entrance to Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, via Hyde Park Corner and Green Pa ...

, she attended

Notting Hill High School Notting Hill and Ealing High School is an independent school for girls aged 4 – 18 in Ealing, London. Founded in 1873, it is one of the 26 schools that make up the Girls' Day School Trust. It has a Junior Department of 310 girls (ages 4–11) ...

. She married Antony Frederic Lewis Thesiger, son of Hon. Percy Thesiger, in 1939, but had no children.

Published works

Graham's published books include ''Say Please'' (1949), a sardonic etiquette guide illustrated by

Osbert Lancaster Sir Osbert Lancaster, CBE (4 August 1908 – 27 July 1986) was an English cartoonist, architectural historian, stage designer and author. He was known for his cartoons in the British press, and for his lifelong work to inform the general p ...

, ''Here's How'' (1951), ''A Cockney in the Country'' (1958), and ''The Story of WVS'' ( Women's Voluntary Services, 1959), for which she worked during the war, and ''Nikki'' (1956, illustrated by Gillian Bunbury). Graham's long correspondence with Joyce Grenfell appeared in 1997. She had met

when they were children, and they enjoyed a lifelong friendship, which included collaboration on some of Grenfell's songs. On Grenfell's first stage appearance, Virginia Graham had this to say: "She had no image to preserve, no axe to grind, no future management to impress. This total lack of '

angst Angst is fear or anxiety (''anguish'' is its Romance languages, Latinate cognate, equivalent, and the words ''anxious'' and ''anxiety'' are of similar origin). The dictionary definition for angst is a feeling of anxiety, apprehension, or insec ...

' came across the footlights and engendered an atmosphere of extraordinary trust and love, so that audiences under her spell felt safe and cozy and somehow cherished." Among the works Virginia Graham translated are ''I Said to my Wife'' by the French journalist and writer Jean Duché (1953, illustrated by

Nicolas Bentley Nicolas Clerihew Bentley (14 June 1907 – 14 August 1978) was a British writer and illustrator, best known for his humorous cartoon drawings in books and magazines in the 1930s and 1940s. The son of Edmund Clerihew Bentley (inventor of the clerih ...

) and ''The Sky and the Stars'' by Albert Préjean (1956). She was instrumental in having her father's ''Ruthless Rhymes'' republished in 1986. She also helped to compile a selection of her father's poetry published in the same year: ''When Grandmama Fell off the Boat''. Virginia Graham wrote regular film reviews for

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

in the late 1940s and early 1950s.Appreciative reader, 15 June 1950, p. 1
Retrieved 17 March 2017.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Virginia 1910 births 1993 deaths 20th-century English women writers Writers from London Etiquette writers French–English translators People educated at Notting Hill & Ealing High School English Christian Scientists 20th-century translators