LOOKING BACK

Basil Mitchell (Memoir Club, £19.95)

All lives are worth recording; some more than others. Oxford philosophy professor Basil Mitchell has written an absorbing account of his life, looking back over his 93 years.

For readers who don’t know him personally or by reputation, the most intriguing theme of the book is probably Basil’s relationships with women.

His father seems to have been a distant figure, “the breadwinner alone”, especially after Basil’s mother, Mary, became crippled by rheumatoid arthritis. Nevertheless, she managed to make her room the “centre of lively conversation and laughter.” He writes most lovingly, too, of his two younger sisters, Betty and Myrtle. And Basil fell in love: early on with the blushing Vera; and later more significantly with Phoebe Llewellyn Smith, who was a contemporary classics student. She was intelligent with a “sharp sensibility,” and a distinctly pre-Raphaelite look. They became good friends, and only friends, Phoebe preferring other suitors as lovers in the ensuing ten years. Having grown fond of Basil in reading thus far, I was very glad when he did manage to get Phoebe at least partly out of his system and move on. I just didn’t think she was right for him! Once that relationship had ended, and coinciding with his mother’s death, Basil had the good fortune to meet up with Margaret Collin (Margy), in her “favourite bottle green evening dress”, and the good sense to propose to her. As a result, they have had more than 60 happy years together and a delightful family, having brought up four children, mostly in Wootton, near Woodstock, where they enjoyed village life, and where Basil could improve on his hobbies of gardening and flower arranging.

I enjoyed this utterly charming autobiography and social history of the 20th century. Basil’s life is a fascinating one, full of achievements, good fortune and much love.