Alexander Waugh
Alexander Waugh, grandson of Evelyn and son of Auberon, is a writer, publisher, cartoonist, presenter, producer and award-winning composer. His books include the best selling Classical Music: A new way of listening and the critically acclaimed Time (1999), God (2002) and Fathers and Sons (2004), a study of the male relations in his own family (also a BBC4 documentary). His new book The House of Wittgenstein was published in 2008 by Bloomsbury.
Alexander was born in 1963 and is the author of six works of non-fiction, with subjects ranging from a biography of God to a book on Opera. In 2008 his study of the Wittgenstein family, The House of Wittgenstein, was published to wide acclaim. Ostensibly a biography of pianist Paul Wittgenstein, the book has received stellar reviews for its originality and fresh perspective on this most famous of families. The Evening Standard described the book as “a work of real discovery and rollicking narrative… a memorable biography, not to be missed.” The Literary Review was also suitably impressed: “The story in this book is so gripping and fascinating that it is remarkable that it has never been told in this way before… it is hard to imagine another account showing such fluency, wit and attention to detail as Alexander Waugh’s.”
Alexander was the chief opera critic for both the Mail on Sunday and the Evening Standard and continues to review regularly for national newspapers and magazines. Bon Voyage!, a theatre piece he co-wrote with brother Nathaniel, won the 12th Vivian Ellis Award for Best New Musical.
Alexander will be talking on Wittgenstein and performing a piano recital in the Round Room at this year’s Port Eliot Festival.
“This book has a wonderful subject and Alexander Waugh, with originality and panache, soon engages us with it at numerous levels… Waugh has a taut and droll tone, reminiscent of the French books of Nancy Mitford.”
The Telegraph
Links:
- BBC4 documentary – The Waughs: Fathers and Sons
- A Selection Alexander’s work for The Spectator
