Malice in Wonderland cover art

Malice in Wonderland

The witty and perceptive diaries of Cecil Beaton's authorised biographer, 'the most knowledgeable royal biographer on the planet' - FINANCIAL TIMES

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Malice in Wonderland

By: Hugo Vickers
Narrated by: Hugo Vickers
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £17.94

Buy Now for £17.94

About this listen

 Hugo Vickers's adventures in the world of Cecil Beaton: an unputdownable portrait of a vanishing age, featuring untold anecdotes and thrilling titbits of royal gossip

'A fascinating document, a window on to a lost world of glamour, grandeur and snobbery . . . an elegy, sad and comical, to a passing era' - Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

Hugo Vickers's life took a dramatic turn in 1979 when the legendary Sir Cecil Beaton invited him to be his authorised biographer. The excitement of working with the famous photographer was dashed only days later when Cecil Beaton died. But the journey had begun - Vickers was entrusted with Beaton's papers, diaries and, most importantly, access to his friends and contemporaries. The resulting book, first published in 1985, was a bestseller.

In Malice in Wonderland, Vickers shares excerpts from his personal diaries kept during this period. For five years, Vickers travelled the world and talked to some of the most fascinating and important social and cultural figures of the time, including royalty such as the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, film stars such as Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Julie Andrews, writers such as Truman Capote, and photographers such as Irving Penn and Horst. And not only Beaton's friends - Vickers sought out the enemies too, notably Irene Selznick. He was taken under the wings of Lady Diana Cooper, Clarissa Avon and Diana Vreeland.

Drawn into Beaton's world and accepted by its members, Vickers the emerging biographer also began his own personal adventure. The outsider became the insider - Beaton's friends became his friends. Malice in Wonderland is a fascinating portrait of a now disappeared world, and vividly and sensitively portrays some of its most fascinating characters as we travel with Vickers on his quest.

---

Critical acclaim for Malice in Wonderland:

'The diaries offer a brilliantly gossipy unofficial portrait of Cecil Beaton and his circle' DAILY MAIL

'I got as caught up in these distant but strangely evocative events as Vickers did . . . delicious in its way, recreating a lost world' Ysenda Maxtone Graham, THE TIMES

'A luxuriant trawl through the recovered past . . . extraordinary book' John Walsh, SUNDAY TIMES

'A quite brilliant record of a fading social and artistic milieu . . . a world to which Vickers is an unrivalled cicerone' Matthew Sturgis, THE OLDIE

'Vickers' diaries bristle with injudicious indiscretion...it is no small compliment to say that the biographer is here the equal of his subject' Michael Arditti, THE SPECTATOR

'Beaton himself was one of the finest 20th-century diarists. It is no small compliment to say that the biographer is here the equal of his subject' THE SPECTATOR

'Illuminating and brilliantly scurrilous' Marcus Field, THE STANDARD

'Scintillating' DAILY MAIL

'When Mr Vickers has his eye to the keyhole, we see a secret panorama' Dominic Green, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

'Vickers - as ever - is a warm and enthusiastic guide to a nearly lost world' TATLER.COM©2021 Hugo Vickers 20th Century Art & Literature Artists, Architects & Photographers Modern Witty Inspiring Royalty
All stars
Most relevant
I enjoyed this book greatly. thank you ,
it was well narrated and I loved hearing about Hugo's liaisons with such people I can only dream of ever mixing with thankyou

Malice in Wonderland

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Hugo Vickers Diary and memories of Cecil Beaton and his world is almost perfect reading. The author writes so sympathetically and yet with great insight into the many many men and women who peopled Cecil Beaton's life.
I absolutely adored listening to this Audible edition and will listen again and again.

A sublime and fascinating diary.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An entertaing and gossipy (but never malicious) account of the interviews Hugo Vickers conducted in the process of researching for his biography of Cecil Beaton. Too many names cited here to be sure, some of them you'd have to Google to find out who they were. But it's a sobering thought that most of the characters whom Vickers has mentioned, or met and interviewed have now departed the scene: not just Beaton, but also Enid Bagnold, Clarissa Avon, Diana Cooper, Diana Mosley, Princess Grace of Monaco, Diana Vreeland, Anita Loos, Truman Capote, Stephen Tennant, Margaret Duchess of Argyll, Lesley Blanch et al.

Simply wonderful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I hugely enjoyed listening to this being read brilliantly by Hugo Vickers.

His biographies of such hugely interesting people as Gladys Duchess of Malbrough and Cecil Beaton along with the excellent insights he gives, had always made me curious about the people he must have cleverly interviewed along the way. So much is covered here and it entertaining and at times captivating!

Generously shared is a phone interview with Audrey Hepburn.

I’ll miss this book I think for quite some time

Fascinating insight into the colourful world leading biographer

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Last gasps of a privileged class.
Were I not already familiar with so many of the protagonists and their associates, I might have found it impossible to listen to and comprehend. An endless list of names that it seems the author expects the listener to know. It isn’t the biography so what is it? The story of the biography itself.
At some level its just a collection of the potentially unreliable memories of an ageing clique of sometimes talented sometimes trivial, always privileged, almost always shallow. Their petty fall outs, their shifting relationships, their ‘work’ and their art. Take a step back and it does offer a different insight into the life and times of Beaton and his cohort.
The jury is still out on whether this is worth the obvious efforts of a clearly serious author, and as I listened to more and more of the flotsam and jetsam of these often self involved minds, I begin to wonder If i needed to devote my time to such ephemera.
Its well written, but im finding it hard to recommend given the essentially gossipy nature of the clique and the sort of biographies that this group seem to endlessly give rise to.

Last gasps of a privileged class

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews