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Family Secrets
‘Some people’s secrets should never be told. The secret, though, that surrounded my parents’ unhappy life together, was divulged to me by accident . . .’
Hidden under some papers in his father’s bureau, the sixteen-year-old Derek Malcolm finds a book by the famous criminologist Edgar Lustgarten called The Judges and the Damned. Browsing through the Contents pages Derek reads, ‘Mr Justice McCardie tries Lieutenant Malcolm – page 33.’ But there is no page 33. The whole chapter has been ripped out of the book.
Slowly but surely, the shocking truth that Derek’s father, shot his wife’s lover and was acquitted at a famous trial at the Old Bailey. The trial was unique in British legal history as the first case of a crime passione, where a guilty man is set free, on the grounds of self-defence. Husband and wife lived together unhappily ever after, raising Derek in their wake.
Then, in a dramatic twist, following his father’s death, Derek receives an open postcard from his Aunt Phyllis, informing him that his real father is the Italian Ambassador to London . . .
By turns laconic and affectionate, Derek Malcolm has written a richly evocative memoir of a family sinking into hopeless disrepair.
Derek Malcolm was chief film critic of the Guardian for thirty years and still writes for the paper. Educated at Eton and Merton College, Oxford, he became first a steeplechase rider and then an actor after leaving university. He worked as a journalist in the sixties, first in Cheltenham and then with the Guardian where he was a features sub-editor and writer, racing correspondent and finally film critic. He directed the London Film Festival for a spell in the 80s and is now President of both the International Film Critics Association and the British Federation of Film Societies. He lives with his wife Sarah Gristwood in London and Kent and has published two books – one on Robert Mitchum and another on his favourite 100 films. He is a frequent broadcaster on radio and television and a veteran of film festival juries all over the world.
Hidden under some papers in his father’s bureau, the sixteen-year-old Derek Malcolm finds a book by the famous criminologist Edgar Lustgarten called The Judges and the Damned. Browsing through the Contents pages Derek reads, ‘Mr Justice McCardie tries Lieutenant Malcolm – page 33.’ But there is no page 33. The whole chapter has been ripped out of the book.
Slowly but surely, the shocking truth that Derek’s father, shot his wife’s lover and was acquitted at a famous trial at the Old Bailey. The trial was unique in British legal history as the first case of a crime passione, where a guilty man is set free, on the grounds of self-defence. Husband and wife lived together unhappily ever after, raising Derek in their wake.
Then, in a dramatic twist, following his father’s death, Derek receives an open postcard from his Aunt Phyllis, informing him that his real father is the Italian Ambassador to London . . .
By turns laconic and affectionate, Derek Malcolm has written a richly evocative memoir of a family sinking into hopeless disrepair.
Derek Malcolm was chief film critic of the Guardian for thirty years and still writes for the paper. Educated at Eton and Merton College, Oxford, he became first a steeplechase rider and then an actor after leaving university. He worked as a journalist in the sixties, first in Cheltenham and then with the Guardian where he was a features sub-editor and writer, racing correspondent and finally film critic. He directed the London Film Festival for a spell in the 80s and is now President of both the International Film Critics Association and the British Federation of Film Societies. He lives with his wife Sarah Gristwood in London and Kent and has published two books – one on Robert Mitchum and another on his favourite 100 films. He is a frequent broadcaster on radio and television and a veteran of film festival juries all over the world.
165 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 10, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 5, 2020
I didn't mean to read two memoirs of highly dysfunctional families in a row, but that's what has happened as I searched our kindle library to find something to follow Julia Blackburn's 'The Three of Us' and remembered my husband saying Malcolm's book was interesting.
My husband is a professor of law, with a particular interest in criminal law, including sentencing, which I suspect what drew him to this story in the first place.
If you've read Goodreads outline of Family Secrets , you'll know that Derek's father had murdered his mother's lover while he was on leave from the battle fields of France during WWI, and was acquitted of the crime on the grounds of self defence. After the trial, his parents continued to live together unhappily ever after.
The dramatic first third of the book leads up to the trial, the middle section covers the trial itself and the final part is what happens afterwards up to the time of Malcolm's parents' deaths.
At the time, I found the section dealing with the court case hard going, because much of it recounts the cases put by prosecution and defence counsel pretty much verbatim. In retrospect, I think this is the section that will stay most vividly with me, as the story itself joins the many other tragic true stories of damaged families, let alone the fictional ones.
Lieut Malcolm insisted that he had killed the bounder (a foreigner, a Jew and a German spy according to the defence) because the villain was trying to seduce his wife, not that he had already seduced her (undoubtedly the case).
Throughout the case the emphasis was on the upright, even heroic, character of the husband who was so determined to save his wife's honour that he had removed the threat. The wife herself was deemed to be misguided, led astray; though she had announced that she loved the man her husband had shot and was planning to run away with him. Her honour depended on whether her relationship with the dead man was a sexual one.
It's quite horrifying at this remove to read the transcripts and to be reminded of the attitudes about women prevailing at the time of the trial. Feminists at the time rumbled about why the woman wasn't allowed to be responsible for her own honour, but majority opinion at the time agreed with the jury that the plea of self-defence could be allowed. Even the prosecutor was really on the husband's side, it seems.
It sounds as though Derek Malcolm, the son, survived both the deep discord between his parents and many years of boarding school to work eventually at something he loved (see films and writing about them). I hope he has found a happy family life of his own, too.
My husband is a professor of law, with a particular interest in criminal law, including sentencing, which I suspect what drew him to this story in the first place.
If you've read Goodreads outline of Family Secrets , you'll know that Derek's father had murdered his mother's lover while he was on leave from the battle fields of France during WWI, and was acquitted of the crime on the grounds of self defence. After the trial, his parents continued to live together unhappily ever after.
The dramatic first third of the book leads up to the trial, the middle section covers the trial itself and the final part is what happens afterwards up to the time of Malcolm's parents' deaths.
At the time, I found the section dealing with the court case hard going, because much of it recounts the cases put by prosecution and defence counsel pretty much verbatim. In retrospect, I think this is the section that will stay most vividly with me, as the story itself joins the many other tragic true stories of damaged families, let alone the fictional ones.
Lieut Malcolm insisted that he had killed the bounder (a foreigner, a Jew and a German spy according to the defence) because the villain was trying to seduce his wife, not that he had already seduced her (undoubtedly the case).
Throughout the case the emphasis was on the upright, even heroic, character of the husband who was so determined to save his wife's honour that he had removed the threat. The wife herself was deemed to be misguided, led astray; though she had announced that she loved the man her husband had shot and was planning to run away with him. Her honour depended on whether her relationship with the dead man was a sexual one.
It's quite horrifying at this remove to read the transcripts and to be reminded of the attitudes about women prevailing at the time of the trial. Feminists at the time rumbled about why the woman wasn't allowed to be responsible for her own honour, but majority opinion at the time agreed with the jury that the plea of self-defence could be allowed. Even the prosecutor was really on the husband's side, it seems.
It sounds as though Derek Malcolm, the son, survived both the deep discord between his parents and many years of boarding school to work eventually at something he loved (see films and writing about them). I hope he has found a happy family life of his own, too.
November 29, 2017
Boring!!!!!
Waste of time. It is not what you expect in a true crime. So disappointed. Was sure it would be good.
Waste of time. It is not what you expect in a true crime. So disappointed. Was sure it would be good.
April 11, 2019
I love the cover of this book with the old colour-touched wedding photo.....just super, as is the dedication at the beginning, too.....most apt. It's not a massively long book and isn't an autobiography, really, as for half of it Derek himself didn't really feature. It is mainly the story of his father's assassination of his mother's paramour and the courtcase that ensued. The language and habits of the day were just fascinating and also highly amusing. The Women's Lib bunch would have a cow !! It all happened right around the time of women being afforded the vote at last, yet was heading in totally the opposite direction, which I found intriguing as well.
Parts of it really made me laugh aloud, especially his and his schoolmates' attitudes to the fiddling masters, how his forebears got out of paying rates and his description of his mum ablaze !! There are some real characters peppered throughout with many being the type of delicious old eccentric I wish there were more of, along with their utter gift of understatement.....they're masters and mistresses of the politically incorrect (now) remarks that made me really snigger to myself and a passage about bestiality in Gloucestershire made me wonder if it was one of Fred West's early turns.....
I was sobbing as Derek related being in a funeral car going to his dad's service and people doffing their hats and how it made him cry, because the same had me howling on the way to my brother's funeral. Ordinary people who didn't know him bowing in respect so greatly touched me, and another parallel was that we spread his ashes in Goodwood on the South Downs, too.
However, for a journalist, there were a few too many presentation errors in this.....overhead was written and not overheard, then in place and not in a place, Oily and not Olly (which was a patently obvious mistake someone really ought to have spotted), there were apostrophe mistakes, too, is Paris should be is in Paris and 'well been vulnerable' lost have......though my biggest "ouch" moment was that dairy got through instead of diary !! A couple of times he referred to QCs and not KCs as well.
I did enjoy this, though, and do wish he'd included a few more photos of his parents in it.
Parts of it really made me laugh aloud, especially his and his schoolmates' attitudes to the fiddling masters, how his forebears got out of paying rates and his description of his mum ablaze !! There are some real characters peppered throughout with many being the type of delicious old eccentric I wish there were more of, along with their utter gift of understatement.....they're masters and mistresses of the politically incorrect (now) remarks that made me really snigger to myself and a passage about bestiality in Gloucestershire made me wonder if it was one of Fred West's early turns.....
I was sobbing as Derek related being in a funeral car going to his dad's service and people doffing their hats and how it made him cry, because the same had me howling on the way to my brother's funeral. Ordinary people who didn't know him bowing in respect so greatly touched me, and another parallel was that we spread his ashes in Goodwood on the South Downs, too.
However, for a journalist, there were a few too many presentation errors in this.....overhead was written and not overheard, then in place and not in a place, Oily and not Olly (which was a patently obvious mistake someone really ought to have spotted), there were apostrophe mistakes, too, is Paris should be is in Paris and 'well been vulnerable' lost have......though my biggest "ouch" moment was that dairy got through instead of diary !! A couple of times he referred to QCs and not KCs as well.
I did enjoy this, though, and do wish he'd included a few more photos of his parents in it.
December 31, 2018
Derek Malcolm's extraordinary family scandal is detailed in this slim volume, at times written with great tenderness, humor and insight.
Malcolm was a late-in-life child to a couple who were survivors of the modernization of English society--his father a World War I veteran and his mother the great beauty of her day. Malcolm details his experiences in boarding school and the murder trial he learned about while going through a desk in his family home.
At times the book dragged, in particular in the trial transcript excerpts. The book is lacking in that all witnesses to the scandal have long passed away, and very little was discussed between him and his father concerning the entire event.
I recommend this book to lovers of English history or literature.
Malcolm was a late-in-life child to a couple who were survivors of the modernization of English society--his father a World War I veteran and his mother the great beauty of her day. Malcolm details his experiences in boarding school and the murder trial he learned about while going through a desk in his family home.
At times the book dragged, in particular in the trial transcript excerpts. The book is lacking in that all witnesses to the scandal have long passed away, and very little was discussed between him and his father concerning the entire event.
I recommend this book to lovers of English history or literature.
December 4, 2017
Very disappointing and a waste of my time. The trial transcript was repetitive and boring. The reveal of his birth father was barely touched on when I expected that to be a big mystery. Read anything else but this!
March 7, 2018
Interesting
It's interesting to see how the differences are between the way of thinking back then, and the way the court decides cases today. Men had authority over women, and women had no rights. If the trial had been in modern times, the outcome would have been a lot different.
It's interesting to see how the differences are between the way of thinking back then, and the way the court decides cases today. Men had authority over women, and women had no rights. If the trial had been in modern times, the outcome would have been a lot different.
October 7, 2018
This non-fiction book tells the tale of a supremely unhappy family, one that is marred by a secret of the highest order, a murder.
Film critic Derek Malcolm tells the story of the murder committed by his father from the distance of many years. This rather strange tale tells the story of Derek’s early years, his relationship with his father who loves his country sports and his mother who craves attention. There are moments of pathos surrounding his school years where the couple, who at times lived apart, visited him. Awkward moments where any signs of a less than affluent nature were kept hidden as much as possible. There is no doubt that this was a different time, and the rules were very different indeed.
Despite the tone of the book, very much stiff-upper-lip, the reader can only wonder how Derek coped with the warring couple who were his parents. There seemed to be no bond between them and yet the two stayed together in disharmony throughout his childhood albeit in different locations for a while. As an only child I can only imagine that school was his salvation and his success in later life is testament that even a strict boarding school aged a tender four is possibly better than living in a domestic war zone. Anyway mummy sent him fond messages on the back of postcards… Of course she was busy entertaining her male friends and lapping up the attention.
“Isn’t this a nice picture? Much love, Mummy”
A possible source of the disharmony at home is an event in 1917 when Douglas Malcolm, on leave from Western front determined to save his wife, Dorothy’s honour by killing a man who she was having an affair with. This was seemingly a planned event, Dorothy had asked Douglas for a divorce, he declined. The scene in the Paddington boarding house where the confrontation took place was quite probably not a pretty one.
More than thirty years later Derek stumbles across the details, something his sixteen year old self didn’t feel the need to share with his father. he Judges and the Damned was the book and while browsing through the Contents pages Derek reads, ‘Mr Justice McCardie tries Lieutenant Malcolm – page 33.’ But there is no page 33. The whole chapter has been ripped out.
The most interesting part of the book in my opinion was the murder trial itself. I can’t imagine a court would take the same view nowadays or even that any man claiming to murder another to save his wife’s honour would achieve anything but incredulity. But that was the defence. That’s not to say that the standing of the two men involved didn’t also play its part in the snobbishness of the courtroom.
This was an interesting story, told almost completely without emotion, as if Derek Malcolm was telling the tale to men very much of his background and his standing. The upper lip is often so stiff I felt the words could barely make their way out as we are told of bullying and beatings at Eton as if these are real badges of honour. Of course to a man of his time, they probably were but I can’t deny there was a gap between the raconteur and his audience.
Film critic Derek Malcolm tells the story of the murder committed by his father from the distance of many years. This rather strange tale tells the story of Derek’s early years, his relationship with his father who loves his country sports and his mother who craves attention. There are moments of pathos surrounding his school years where the couple, who at times lived apart, visited him. Awkward moments where any signs of a less than affluent nature were kept hidden as much as possible. There is no doubt that this was a different time, and the rules were very different indeed.
Despite the tone of the book, very much stiff-upper-lip, the reader can only wonder how Derek coped with the warring couple who were his parents. There seemed to be no bond between them and yet the two stayed together in disharmony throughout his childhood albeit in different locations for a while. As an only child I can only imagine that school was his salvation and his success in later life is testament that even a strict boarding school aged a tender four is possibly better than living in a domestic war zone. Anyway mummy sent him fond messages on the back of postcards… Of course she was busy entertaining her male friends and lapping up the attention.
“Isn’t this a nice picture? Much love, Mummy”
A possible source of the disharmony at home is an event in 1917 when Douglas Malcolm, on leave from Western front determined to save his wife, Dorothy’s honour by killing a man who she was having an affair with. This was seemingly a planned event, Dorothy had asked Douglas for a divorce, he declined. The scene in the Paddington boarding house where the confrontation took place was quite probably not a pretty one.
More than thirty years later Derek stumbles across the details, something his sixteen year old self didn’t feel the need to share with his father. he Judges and the Damned was the book and while browsing through the Contents pages Derek reads, ‘Mr Justice McCardie tries Lieutenant Malcolm – page 33.’ But there is no page 33. The whole chapter has been ripped out.
The most interesting part of the book in my opinion was the murder trial itself. I can’t imagine a court would take the same view nowadays or even that any man claiming to murder another to save his wife’s honour would achieve anything but incredulity. But that was the defence. That’s not to say that the standing of the two men involved didn’t also play its part in the snobbishness of the courtroom.
This was an interesting story, told almost completely without emotion, as if Derek Malcolm was telling the tale to men very much of his background and his standing. The upper lip is often so stiff I felt the words could barely make their way out as we are told of bullying and beatings at Eton as if these are real badges of honour. Of course to a man of his time, they probably were but I can’t deny there was a gap between the raconteur and his audience.
November 4, 2018
Could not hold my interest. A family history that was sad and I feel the author should have kept it to himself
. Rating of one star is all I could give this book. It seemed that the author was trying to capitalise on his parents difficult and unhappy marriage.
I skimmed through several parts.
. Rating of one star is all I could give this book. It seemed that the author was trying to capitalise on his parents difficult and unhappy marriage.
I skimmed through several parts.
December 12, 2017
I seldom give up on a book but I nearly did several times. I persevered, skimming over many pages in the hope it would improve. Unfortunately it was too boring and repetitive to be the interesting story it seemed in the description.
October 29, 2018
Loved the honesty
Enjoyable fascinating read of a gone by era and sad too to see how two people sadly mismatched living together out of duty or necessity and the effect on their son bravo Derek for your candid story.
Enjoyable fascinating read of a gone by era and sad too to see how two people sadly mismatched living together out of duty or necessity and the effect on their son bravo Derek for your candid story.
May 30, 2018
Found it rather boring.
November 13, 2021
Delightful book
This was a family history entwined with a scandalous history. Very well written, and I enjoyed the author’s sense of humour.
This was a family history entwined with a scandalous history. Very well written, and I enjoyed the author’s sense of humour.
December 3, 2018
OK. Interesting in parts but an awful lot of repetition especially in the trial sections. Could have been so much better.
May 3, 2017
Found this book at the back of my wardrobe and looked inside to find the receipt dated 2003 so I thought I had better read it, it was very interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed it, Derek Malcolm has written this book very well about his parents lives before he was born and the scandal about his father, also about his own upbringing I would recommend it and give it 3.5 stars rather than 3.
October 26, 2021
This book was suggested to me by a relative while I was working on my family tree. I was looking forward to reading it, since it was based on actual events with the likelihood of mystery/suspense. But somehow this novel is absolutely boring. It was hard slog just to reach the halfway mark of the book. In the end I simply couldn’t finish it.
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April 19, 2018The rich are more than simply different.
Story caused me to reflect how one's sense of self and entitlement are influenced by great wealth. Wealth can insulate one from reality but not from life.
Story caused me to reflect how one's sense of self and entitlement are influenced by great wealth. Wealth can insulate one from reality but not from life.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews