Publisher's Synopsis
A century ago, Robert Best was starting to recover from the trauma of the First World War, attending séances to try and reach his younger brother Frank, and wondering how to reconnect with Germany, which his English industrialist father had adored, and where he had spent a happy, amusing and musical year studying at the Duesseldorf art school that the pioneering architect Peter Behrens had run until 1907. Best’s history of those years, and of his time at Bedales (the inspirational co-ed boarding school founded by J.H. Badley) provides a vivid archive of memories, taking the reader back to the early 20th century, a time before irony had ousted innocence, and when friends could spend a jolly evening singing round a piano in the parlour. Best’s recall is invaluable. Not only does he expand on his schoolboy ambition to go into music hall but also how he developed his skills, what musical culture meant at the time, who its heroes were, and why they were admired. In the same way, he talks knowledgeably not only about the state of flight technology before and during the First World War but what a pilot was expected to know (at a time when life expectancy in the Royal Flying Corps was about 4 months) and what gave flying its caché.
