Aspects of Art and Ancestry

These memoirs describe interesting personalities, places and quirky incidents told in a thousand brief episodes. These biographical stories of the authors ancestors include a 17th Century seafarer, a gallant earl, a saint and viceroy of India and tales of various unsung heroes are brought vividly to life, from the high aristocracy to a lowly but colourful range of rogues and vagabonds. As a young officer in the Irish Guards, the author spent many months stationed in the Tower of London, before having an eventful posting to Palestine in 1947/8. The following year he became a student of the Italian artist Pietro Annigoni, which led to a career painting commissions for several Dukes and an official portrait of H.M. The Queen. See more