Daydream Believer : Confessions of a Hero-Worshipper

by Hugh Massingberd

Hugh Massingberd has written some 40 books, including works of genealogical reference, studies of royalty and social history and a series of illustrated volumes on palaces, grand hotels and country houses. His five collections of Daily Telegraph obituaries have all been best-sellers. This is the autobiography of a man described as "an institution, one of the great English eccentrics of our time", as well as being immortalized by Private Eye as "Hugh Massivesnob".

310 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Winterwade · Rating 5 out of 5]

A man who was pleased to work exceptionally hard whilst largely shunning the limelight, Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd's self-effacing recounting of his relationships with some of the twentieth century's greatest figures is a wonderful read. Beginning with his own family background and feeling of falling between two stools (middle-class prig on one hand, scion of landed gentry lords of the manor on the other), the book is a pleasant and funny read.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This self-styled "obsessive creep," an English writer primarily famous for his obituaries, has written a wonderfully entertaining memoir of some comparably eccentric companions. Massingberd's warts-and-all portrait of Anthony Powell is just one of several marvelous biographical sketches.

[Richard Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable. Laugh out loud moments, took me a while to figure out if it was fact or fiction!