Alexander Waugh, grandson of Evelyn, entertained and informed. We learnt that Arthur Waugh, Evelyn's father, was completely obsessed with his older son Alec, born five years before Evelyn in 1903.

Evelyn was a disappointment - a girl had been hoped for. Their relationships were complex and interesting and throughout his life Evelyn never felt that he pleased his father. He became religious and as a child wanted to set up his own altar in his bedroom.

While at Oxford, Evelyn met the Lygons of Madresfield Court. Madresfield fascinated Evelyn and close similarities to it are described in some of his writings. The Arts & Crafts chapel of Brideshead Revisited is much the same as the one at Madresfield. In the same book he writes of "Memories . . . so important", obviously remembering his own younger days.

Evelyn's father died in 1943, and by 1946 Evelyn was referring to Brideshead Revisited, which he had dedicated to Earl Beauchamp's daughters, as his magnum opus. The Second World War had been a fruitful period for Evelyn's writing - a time which could not be recaptured, though by 1960 he was hankering after it.

Alexander Waugh is presently working on a family history, Fathers & Sons, due out next year.

Jill Hopkins