Alan Hodge
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Alan Hodge (16 October 1915 – 25 May 1979) was an English historian and journalist. He was a member of the circle of writers and artists that centred on
Laura Riding Laura Riding Jackson (born Laura Reichenthal; January 16, 1901 – September 2, 1991), best known as Laura Riding, was an American poet, critic, novelist, essayist and short story writer. Early life She was born in New York City to Nathan ...
and
Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...
in the late 1930s, and later collaborated with Graves on '' The Long Week-End'', a social history of Britain between the wars, and '' The Reader Over Your Shoulder'', a guide to writing English prose. After the Second World War he worked as the general editor of
Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''James'' the English form – which was ...
's Novel Library, as an editorial assistant on
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
's ''
History of the English-Speaking Peoples ''A History of the English-Speaking Peoples'' is a four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies and possessions throughout the world, written by Winston Churchill, covering the period from Caesar's invasions of Britain (55 BC) to the en ...
'', and as a founding co-editor (with
Peter Quennell Sir Peter Courtney Quennell (9 March 1905 – 27 October 1993) was an English biographer, literary historian, editor, essayist, poet, and critic. He wrote extensively on social history. Life Born in Bickley, Kent, the son of architect C. H ...
) of the successful magazine ''
History Today ''History Today'' is an illustrated history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it presents serious and authoritative history to as wide a public as possible. The magazine covers all periods and geographical regions and pub ...
''.


Parentage and education

Alan Hodge was born on 16 October 1915 in
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
, Yorkshire; his father was T. S. Hodge, a
Cunard Line Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...
captain and officer in the
Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...
. He grew up in
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
and attended
Liverpool Collegiate School Liverpool Collegiate School was an all-boys grammar school, later a comprehensive school, in the Everton area of Liverpool. Foundations The Collegiate is a striking, Grade II listed building, with a facade of pink Woolton sandstone, designed ...
before going up to
Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...
where he read history. In his spare time he wrote poetry and, with
Kenneth Allott Kenneth Cyril Bruce Allott (29 August 1912 – 23 May 1973) was an Anglo-Irish poet and academic, and authority on Matthew Arnold. Life Allott was the elder son of Hubert Cyril Willoughby Allott and his wife Rose (née Finlay).Ian Sansom, ‘All ...
, co-edited the Oxford University English Club's magazine, ''Programme''.


The Riding-Graves circle

In 1935 Hodge, then in his second year at Oriel, wrote a review of the first volume of ''Epilogue'', an irregular critical journal, which led to a correspondence with its editor, the American poet
Laura Riding Laura Riding Jackson (born Laura Reichenthal; January 16, 1901 – September 2, 1991), best known as Laura Riding, was an American poet, critic, novelist, essayist and short story writer. Early life She was born in New York City to Nathan ...
. Riding invited Hodge to visit her at the house in
Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
she shared with
Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...
, and Hodge duly turned up in time for Christmas. He made an excellent impression; Graves noted in his diary, "Hodge very decent & sensible", and described him as "young, blonde good head". Another description of his appearance a year or so later described him as "a small blond boy with a cherubic soprano's face, an incongruously deep and hollow voice, and a deliberate, sententious manner; he seemed about sixteen". Hodge went home in early January 1936, but returned the following July to spend the summer holidays there. He was kept busy helping with a planned series of schoolbooks, contributing to ''Epilogue'', and writing poems. During July the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
broke out, and on 2 August, acting on official advice, the entire household left Majorca aboard a British destroyer. Hodge settled in London with his new girlfriend Beryl Pritchard, a PPE student he had met at Oxford, but remained a part of the circle of writers and artists dominated by Laura Riding. Before long he decided to return to Spain to work for the beleaguered Socialist government, despite himself being a lifelong Conservative, but Riding told him he must stay in England. Hodge, who was becoming her closest disciple, acquiesced. At this time he was working on a novel called ''A Year of Damage'', based on his experiences with a former girlfriend,
Audrey Beecham Helen Audrey Beecham (21 July 1915 – 31 January 1989) was an English poet, teacher and historian. She was born in Weaverham in 1915. Her grandfather was Sir Joseph Beecham, 1st Baronet, eldest son of Thomas Beecham, who had created a fortune ...
, and by the spring of 1937 it was completed. Graves and Riding supervised its progress closely and made many suggestions for its improvement, all of which he adopted, but though both of them loved the finished book Hodge wouldn't publish it, and destroyed the manuscript. In the second half of 1937 he used his skills as a historical researcher to help Graves with the writing of ''
Count Belisarius ''Count Belisarius'' is a historical novel by Robert Graves, first published in 1938, recounting the life of the Byzantine general Belisarius (AD 500–565). Just as Graves's Claudius novels (''I, Claudius'' and ''Claudius the God and His Wife ...
'', a novel set in the early Byzantine Empire; and at about the same time they worked on a historical survey of the influence of politics on literature, eventually published in Harry Kemp and Laura Riding's book ''The Left Heresy in Literature and Life''. These were only the first results of a fruitful partnership between the two friends.


First marriage

On 29 January 1938 Hodge and Beryl Pritchard were married. Beryl had previously doubted it was a good idea, but Hodge won her round; Beryl's parents were less amenable, her father being rude to Hodge at the wedding, and her mother telling her she was throwing her life away. In June Riding, Graves, the Hodges and two more of the coterie travelled to
Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...
in
Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
and found a large country house, which they rented and moved into. A year later the entire party took ship for America, where an old friend of Graves, the journalist Tom Matthews, had engaged to find them a home. The atmosphere in the new community became increasingly claustrophobic and nightmarish as Riding's domination grew more oppressive, and in a few months the group broke up. Hodge, utterly disillusioned with Riding, returned to England with Graves in August, Beryl being expected to follow shortly after. By now the dynamic of the Hodge marriage had completely changed, both coming to suspect that theirs was more a friendship than a romance, while Beryl and Graves had gradually fallen in love with each other. On arriving in England Hodge immediately set out on a journalistic assignment to Poland, and was in Warsaw when the German army invaded the country. He managed to return to England by a circuitous journey via Estonia, Finland, Sweden and Norway. Beryl reached England from America in October and moved in with Graves, a situation which Hodge, after some initial resistance, accepted without ill-feeling. Beryl remained with Graves for the rest of his life, while Hodge kept his close friendship with both.


Collaborations with Robert Graves

Hodge now resumed his literary partnership with Graves, beginning with some historical research on the
American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
for Graves's Sergeant Lamb novels. The next project, '' The Long Week-End'', was intended as "a reliable record of what took place, of a forgettable sort, during the twenty-one-year interval between the two great European wars", for which Hodge did research work and wrote first drafts of several of the chapters. The evidence was mainly drawn from
ephemera Ephemera are transitory creations which are not meant to be retained or preserved. Its etymological origins extends to Ancient Greece, with the common definition of the word being: "the minor transient documents of everyday life". Ambiguous in ...
l sources, such as newspapers, magazines and radio broadcasts, and the book depicted British life in this period as being mainly devoted to frivolities and distractions. ''The Long Week-End'' was completed in June 1940 and published the following November by
Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...
, with Graves and Hodge being credited as co-authors. There have been many subsequent editions in Britain and the United States, it has been translated into Danish and Swedish and even published in
Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...
. On its first publication the reaction of academe was mixed. One historian detected the malign influence of the
Mass-Observation Mass-Observation is a United Kingdom social research project; originally the name of an organisation which ran from 1937 to the mid-1960s, and was revived in 1981 at the University of Sussex. Mass-Observation originally aimed to record everyday ...
movement in the authors' approach, and called it "a strange unfocused photograph of the times, in which, although the 'camera-eye' has not lied, it has failed entirely to introduce any perspective or integration", but the sociologist
Alfred McClung Lee Alfred McClung Lee (August 23, 1906 – May 19, 1992) was an American sociologist whose research included studies of American journalism, propaganda, and race relations.Daniels, Lee AAlfred McClung Lee Dies at 85; Professor Was Noted Sociologist ' ...
thought it "regrettable that so few books do so well the useful task Graves and Hodge assigned themselves". Press reviews had some very enthusiastic things to say: "thoroughly good reading", "swift, ironic, entertaining...fair and penetrating and a thoroughly significant book today", "it could hardly have been better done". More recently it has been described as "stimulating and well-informed", and by
Francis Wheen Francis James Baird Wheen (born 22 January 1957) is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster. Early life and education Wheen was born into an army familyNicholas Wro"A life in writing" ''The Guardian'', 29 August 2009 and educated at two ind ...
as "enthralling", while for the historian Alfred F. Havighurst "nothing has as yet replaced" it as a social history of the period. By August 1940 the two were working together on what Graves called a "new book about English prose...for the general reader, and also for intelligent colleges and VI-forms". Originally intended to help Graves's daughter Jenny Nicholson, it was eventually published as '' The Reader Over Your Shoulder: A Handbook for Writers of English Prose''. Its plan, which owes something to Riding's 1938 work ''The World and Ourselves'', is as follows: first come chapters entitled "The Peculiar Qualities of English", "The Present Confusion of English Prose", "Where Is Good English to Be Found?", and "The Use and Abuse of Official English"; then a history of English prose, quoting many examples; then chapters on "The Principles of Clear Statement" and "The Graces of Prose"; finally, taking up the greater part of the book, the authors present under the title "Examinations and Fair Copies" fifty-four stylistically aberrant passages by well-known writers, analyze their faults, and rewrite them in better English. This last section, according to the academic Denis Donoghue, "accounted for much of the fame and nearly all of the delight that the book has given its readers". Getting copyright waivers from each of the 54 writers made demands on the co-authors' time, and since this section was, in Graves's words, "dynamite under so many chairs", also on their diplomacy. Their private nickname for the book was ''A Short Cut to Unpopularity''. The publishers Faber and Faber initially accepted the book while it was still in progress, but later took fright and dropped it; it was finally published in May 1943 by
Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...
. There have been several later editions, some at full length and some drastically abridged. G. W. Stonier, reviewing ''The Reader Over Your Shoulder'' in the ''
New Statesman and Nation The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members o ...
'', regretted that "a book, whose general aims are admirable, should be spoilt so often by its pedantry", but most other contemporary reviews were favourable: "it might seem that ''The Reader Over Your Shoulder'' would be unavoidably dry on questions of punctuation and grammar, but even here it is witty and stimulating — a desk-book for the writer that should never fail to key him up", "a stimulating and stirring book, which meets a great and genuine need of our times", "instructive and entertaining book", "highly pleasurable and in some degree profitable", "any editor of his journalwould mortgage the office filing cabinet to place this book before the eyes of every contributor". ''
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 ...
'' wryly noted that "this book, with its high standards, its scholarship and its brilliance, is exactly calculated to suit the contemporary taste for spiced and potted knowledge which it deplores".
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 ...
wrote in ''
The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017. History ''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by a Quaker convert ...
'', "This is the century of the common man; let him write as he speaks and let him speak as he pleases. This the deleterious opinion to which ''The Reader Over Your Shoulder'' provides a welcome corrective"; he ended, "as a result of having read t..I have taken about three times as long to write this review as is normal, and still dread committing it to print". It has been highly praised in the years since. For the sociologist
C. Wright Mills Charles Wright Mills (August 28, 1916 – March 20, 1962) was an American Sociology, sociologist, and a professor of sociology at Columbia University from 1946 until his death in 1962. Mills published widely in both popular and intellectual journ ...
it was "the best book I know" on writing, for the academic Greg Myers, "relentlessly
prescriptive Linguistic prescription, or prescriptive grammar, is the establishment of rules defining preferred usage of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Sometimes infor ...
and hilarious", for the journalist
Mark Halperin Mark Evan Halperin (born January 11, 1965)Mark Halperin. ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Biography In Context. is an American journalist, currently a host and commentator for Newsmax TV. Halperin previously worked as ...
"one of the three or four books on usage that deserve a place on the same shelf as Fowler". The biographer
Miranda Seymour Miranda Jane Seymour (born 8 August 1948) is an English literary critic, novelist and biographer. The lives she has described have included those of Robert Graves and Mary Shelley. Seymour, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, has in r ...
said that "as a handbook to style, it has never been bettered", and the literary critic Denis Donoghue wrote, "I don't know any other book in which expository prose is read so seriously, carefully, helpfully. For this reason the book is just as important as
I. A. Richards Ivor Armstrong Richards CH (26 February 1893 – 7 September 1979), known as I. A. Richards, was an English educator, literary critic, poet, and rhetorician. His work contributed to the foundations of the New Criticism, a formalist movement ...
' ''Practical Criticism''". He went on, "there is no point in being scandalized by the assumption in ''The Reader Over Your Shoulder'' that good English is the sort of English written by Graves and Hodge. In my opinion, that claim is justified." By 1941 another project was in the offing alongside ''The Reader Over Your Shoulder''. This was intended as a volume of new poems by Hodge, Graves, James Reeves, Norman Cameron and Harry Kemp , all of whom were veterans of the Laura Riding circle. In the event the publisher,
Hogarth Press The Hogarth Press is a book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House that was founded as an independent company in 1917 by British authors Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond (then in Surrey and now ...
, rejected Reeves and Kemp from this line-up, so when the book appeared in March 1942 it included 17 poems by Hodge alongside contributions by Graves and Cameron, "published under a single cover for economy and friendship", as the Authors' Note says. ''
The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...
'' thought Hodge's poems showed "an ironic humour...enriched by a spontaneous vivacity and a sympathetic closeness to nature". One more book was to have been a collaboration between Graves and Hodge. This was eventually published under Graves's name alone as '' The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth''. Hodge retired from the project at a fairly early stage, in 1943, as it became clear that this would be a very personal view of the nature of poetic inspiration and would go beyond his own areas of expertise. Of the central thesis of the book Hodge wrote, "I think it is a good myth, that is, it has truth, and it is not necessary to ask whether it is entirely factually true". They would not produce another book together again, and Graves began to recede from the foreground of Hodge's life.


Civil Service and journalism

Hodge spent the Second World War at the Ministry of Information, where he served first under Sir
Harold Nicolson Sir Harold George Nicolson (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968) was a British politician, diplomat, historian, biographer, diarist, novelist, lecturer, journalist, broadcaster, and gardener. His wife was the writer Vita Sackville-West. Early lif ...
, then as
Assistant Private Secretary A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family. The role exists in ...
to his successor,
Brendan Bracken Brendan Rendall Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken, PC (15 February 1901 – 8 August 1958) was an Irish-born businessman, politician and a minister in the British Conservative cabinet. He is best remembered for supporting Winston Churchill during ...
. In 1944 he added to his workload by taking a job as book-reviewer to the London local paper, the ''
Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...
''. After the 1945 general election Bracken was out of office, and Hodge left with him, but when Bracken took on a gossip column called "Men and Matters" at the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' in 1946 he appointed Hodge his assistant. According to Hodge's later description of his role as Bracken's literary catalyst he would be "asked to produce a list of targets for attack. Invariably these were shot down by Bracken in withering terms. This was part of a process of warming up by which he got into his stride". Not everyone reacted well to this kind of treatment – his civil servants cheered when he departed in 1945, and he is rumoured to have been in some respects the model for
Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitari ...
's Big Brother – but the relationship with Hodge was different, Bracken having a genuine fondness for him as well as a respect for his scholarship.


Publishing

From 1946 to 1952 Hodge worked for the publishing firm
Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''James'' the English form – which was ...
as the general editor of their Novel Library, a series of reprints of classic novels, both English and foreign. The introductions with which Hodge furnished some of the volumes won the admiration of
Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...
, who wrote to the publisher, "Your man Hodge is a superb editor, the rarest kind of mind...Surely no one could write better introductions". The series was eventually wrapped up, but Novel Library editions are now much sought after in secondhand bookshops. He also produced for Hamish Hamilton two translations from the French, ''
Maigret's Mistake ''Maigret's Mistake'' (French:''Maigret se trompe'') is a 1953 detective novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon featuring his character Jules Maigret Jules Maigret (), or simply Maigret, is a fictional French police detective, a '' com ...
'' by
Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education ...
(later reprinted by
Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...
) and ''Caves of Adventure'' by
Haroun Tazieff Haroun Tazieff (Warsaw, 11 May 1914 – Paris, 2 February 1998) was a Tatar, Belgian and French volcanologist and geologist. He was a famous cinematographer of volcanic eruptions and lava flows, and the author of several books on volcanoes. He ...
.


Life as a working historian

The last 28 years of Hodge's life were dominated by his work on the magazine ''
History Today ''History Today'' is an illustrated history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it presents serious and authoritative history to as wide a public as possible. The magazine covers all periods and geographical regions and pub ...
''. This was the creation of Brendan Bracken, Hodge's old boss and from 1945 Chairman of the Financial News group which owned the ''Financial Times''. One of his projects was the creation of a monthly history magazine to be edited by Hodge, but when in 1950 he decided to act on this plan he brought in the
literary biographer When studying literature, biography and its relationship to literature is often a subject of literary criticism, and is treated in several different forms. Two scholarly approaches use biography or biographical approaches to the past as a tool for ...
Peter Quennell Sir Peter Courtney Quennell (9 March 1905 – 27 October 1993) was an English biographer, literary historian, editor, essayist, poet, and critic. He wrote extensively on social history. Life Born in Bickley, Kent, the son of architect C. H ...
as well, making the two men co-editors. Paper-rationing delayed the magazine's launch, but on 12 January 1951 the first issue appeared. ''History Today'' (the title was allegedly suggested by
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
) was attractively illustrated and aimed itself at the general reader without writing down to him. The intention, as A. L. Rowse later wrote, was to "bridge the gap between specialist journals, all too often unreadable by the general public, and the intelligent reader who wanted to read history". From the first the magazine brought in a wide range of heavyweight academic historians to contribute articles, the first two issues alone boasting the names of
G. M. Trevelyan George Macaulay Trevelyan (16 February 1876 – 21 July 1962) was a British historian and academic. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1898 to 1903. He then spent more than twenty years as a full-time author. He returned to the ...
,
G. M. Young George Malcolm Young (29 April 1882 – 18 November 1959) was an English historian, best known for his book on Victorian times in Britain, ''Portrait of an Age'' (1936). After a short time as an academic and a career as a civil servant lasting ...
,
Veronica Wedgwood Dame Cicely Veronica Wedgwood, (20 July 1910 – 9 March 1997) was an English historian who published under the name C. V. Wedgwood. Specializing in the history of 17th-century England and continental Europe, her biographies and narrative hist ...
,
Eric Linklater Eric Robert Russell Linklater CBE (8 March 1899 – 7 November 1974) was a Welsh-born Scottish poet, fiction writer, military historian, and travel writer. For ''The Wind on the Moon'', a children's fantasy novel, he won the 1944 Carnegie Meda ...
,
Alan Bullock Alan Louis Charles Bullock, Baron Bullock, (13 December 1914 – 2 February 2004) was a British historian. He is best known for his book '' Hitler: A Study in Tyranny'' (1952), the first comprehensive biography of Adolf Hitler, which influence ...
,
A. J. P. Taylor Alan John Percivale Taylor (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was a British historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his televis ...
, D. W. Brogan,
G. D. H. Cole George Douglas Howard Cole (25 September 1889 – 14 January 1959) was an English political theorist, economist, and historian. As a believer in common ownership of the means of production, he theorised guild socialism (production organised ...
and
Max Beloff Max Beloff, Baron Beloff, (2 July 1913 – 22 March 1999) was a British historian and Conservative peer. From 1974 to 1979 he was principal of the University College of Buckingham, now the University of Buckingham. Early life Beloff was born ...
. Later Hodge and Quennell brought in experts from a wide range of fields, including
Kenneth Clark Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...
,
Freya Stark Dame Freya Madeline Stark (31 January 18939 May 1993), was a British-Italian explorer and travel writer. She wrote more than two dozen books on her travels in the Middle East and Afghanistan as well as several autobiographical works and essays ...
,
Nancy Mitford Nancy Freeman-Mitford (28 November 1904 – 30 June 1973), known as Nancy Mitford, was an English novelist, biographer, and journalist. The eldest of the Mitford sisters, she was regarded as one of the "bright young things" on the London s ...
,
Arthur Waley Arthur David Waley (born Arthur David Schloss, 19 August 188927 June 1966) was an English orientalist and sinologist who achieved both popular and scholarly acclaim for his translations of Chinese and Japanese poetry. Among his honours were th ...
,
Julian Huxley Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (22 June 1887 – 14 February 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century modern synthesis. ...
and Michael Grant. Hodge's editorial style was described as "scholarly, imaginative and judicious". While editing the magazine Hodge took up a prolonged side-activity, the editing of Winston Churchill's ''
History of the English-Speaking Peoples ''A History of the English-Speaking Peoples'' is a four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies and possessions throughout the world, written by Winston Churchill, covering the period from Caesar's invasions of Britain (55 BC) to the en ...
''. Churchill had begun to work on this massive work during his "wilderness years", in 1932, and it was in
proof Proof most often refers to: * Proof (truth), argument or sufficient evidence for the truth of a proposition * Alcohol proof, a measure of an alcoholic drink's strength Proof may also refer to: Mathematics and formal logic * Formal proof, a con ...
by the time he re-entered the Cabinet in September 1939, at which point he had to lay it aside. In 1953, once again Prime Minister, he returned to the ''History'', uncertain whether it was in a publishable state. His close friend Bracken advised him to take on Hodge as an editorial assistant, the introductions were made, and Hodge soon found himself leading a team of historians advising Churchill on necessary revisions. His brief was to produce "a lively, continuous narrative" emphasizing "famous dramatic events", but getting major changes made in the text proved very difficult. "Errors of fact were changed with courteous alacrity," according to the historian
John H. Plumb Sir John (Jack) Harold Plumb (20 August 1911 – 21 October 2001) was a British historian, known for his books on British 18th-century history. He wrote over thirty books. Biography Plumb was born in Leicester on 20 August 1911. He was educat ...
; "subject to strong pressure, an adjective might or might not be pruned, but the grand design proved immutable." Hodge worked in various places: at home, at the ''History Today'' offices, at
Chartwell Chartwell is a country house near Westerham, Kent, in South East England. For over forty years it was the home of Winston Churchill. He bought the property in September 1922 and lived there until shortly before his death in January 1965. In th ...
(Churchill's home in
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
), and in the south of France where Churchill spent lengthy holidays. They developed a close friendship, but the work came to an end at last in 1957. One project suffered from Hodge's heavy workload in these years. When his old friend Norman Cameron died from a stroke in 1953 leaving Hodge his copyrights, Hodge agreed to prepare an edition of his poems with an introduction by Robert Graves. This edition hung fire for a long time, to Graves's increasing anger, but the ''Collected Poems'' finally appeared in June 1957. The same year, having resigned as Prime Minister amid heavy press criticism of the
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,
Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achieving rapid promo ...
decided to write his memoirs as a way of giving his side of the story. He recruited a team of historians to assist him, and Bracken once more stepped forward to recommend Hodge for his "grace of style and nicety of perspective". Hodge joined the team, and was kept occupied through to 1959. In 1958 Brendan Bracken died, and Hodge was commissioned to write his biography. He researched his subject diligently, but found himself hampered by the fact that Bracken had ordered his private papers to be burned after his death and also by a sense of loyalty to his old boss which would not have allowed him to publish everything he found. After several years he abandoned the task and gave his notes to
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and
Andrew Boyle Andrew Philip More Boyle (27 May 1919 – 22 April 1991) was a Scottish journalist and biographer. His biography of Brendan Bracken won the 1974 Whitbread Awards and his book ''The Climate of Treason'' exposed Anthony Blunt as the "Fourth M ...
, both of whom were engaged on the same task. In 1960 Hodge and Quennell collaborated on ''The Past We Share: An Illustrated History of the British and American Peoples''. Reviews were mixed. ''
Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...
'' called it "a superb panoramic view of history with a somewhat misleading subtitle, for the emphasis is so largely British that the America aspects take definitely second place", ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' "a more than ordinarily serious entry in a frequently trumped-up field", and '' The Booklist and Subscription Books Bulletin'' "an inviting historical summary for casual reading"; the ''Times Literary Supplement'' found the illustrations good in themselves but inaccurately captioned, the ''
New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...
'' thought that "the real past we share with the English was a broader, harsher, more dynamic and far more astonishing saga of conquest than this genteel survey suggests", ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' that "the luminous histories of our two peoples have not been dovetailed at all (as the title implied they would be) but rather set side by side to languish augustly in isolation from one another", but the ''
Chicago Sunday Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are ...
'' believed that "this gallery of a pictured past is as rewarding as any the reader is likely to tour for some time". Alan Hodge remained until his death the co-editor with Peter Quennell of ''History Today''. He died at the age of 63 on 25 May 1979.


Personal life

In 1942 Hodge opened the way for his first wife, Beryl, to marry Graves by instituting divorce proceedings, and the divorce was made absolute the following year. In the autumn of 1947 he met Jane Aiken, daughter of the poet and novelist
Conrad Aiken Conrad Potter Aiken (August 5, 1889 – August 17, 1973) was an American writer and poet, honored with a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and was United States Poet Laureate from 1950 to 1952. His published works include poetry, short st ...
, and on 3 January 1948 they married. He encouraged her to begin her successful career writing Gothic romances. They lived in
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...
and later
Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...
, and had two daughters, Jessica and Joanna.


Books co-authored by Alan Hodge

* Robert Graves and Alan Hodge '' The Long Week-End: A Social History of Great Britain 1918–1939'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1940; New York: Macmillan, 1941) * Alan Hodge, Norman Cameron and Robert Graves ''Work in Hand'' (London: The Hogarth Press, 1942) * Robert Graves and Alan Hodge ''The Reader over Your Shoulder: A Handbook for Writers of English Prose'' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1943; New York: Macmillan, 1944) * Peter Quennell and Alan Hodge ''The Past We Share: An Illustrated History of the British and American Peoples'' (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1960; New York: Putnam, 1960)


Footnotes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodge, Alan 1915 births 1979 deaths 20th-century British journalists 20th-century English poets 20th-century British translators Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Civil servants in the Ministry of Information (United Kingdom) English book editors English civil servants English historians English magazine editors English male journalists English translators French–English translators People educated at Liverpool Collegiate Institution People from Scarborough, North Yorkshire