Richard George Hubert Plunket Greene (1 July 1901 – 25 March 1978) was an English racing motorist, a jazz musician and author. He was also a member of the British socialite group known by the tabloid press of the 1920s as 'The Bright Young Things.'

Biography

Richard George Hubert Plunket Greene was born on 1 July 1901, the son of

Harry Plunket Greene Harry Plunket Greene (24 June 1865 – 19 August 1936) was an Irish baritone who was most famous in the formal concert and oratorio repertoire. He wrote and lectured on his art, and was active in the field of musical competitions and examinatio ...

, an Irish baritone who was most famous in the formal concert and oratorio repertoire, and Gwendolen Maud Parry, the daughter of

Hubert Parry Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 1848 – 7 October 1918), was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Born in Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is ...

, English composer, teacher and historian of music. His grandmother, Louisa Lelias (Lilias) Plunket, was an author as well (''Bound by a spell, or The Hunted Witch of the Forest'', 1885). He attended

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

where he formed a long-lasting friendship with

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

, who at one time, in the 1920s, was in love with Plunket Greene's sister, Olivia Plunket Greene. Waugh described him as "a piratical in appearance, sometimes wearing ear-rings, a good man in a boat, a heavy smoker of dark, strong tobacco, tinged, as were his siblings, with melancholy, but also infused with a succession of wild, obsessive enthusiasms. He brought to the purchase of a pipe or a necktie the concentration of a collector. During the next few years I saw him become a connoisseur of wine, a racing motorist, an exponent of the latest jazz, the author of a detective novel". The 1930 novel '' Vile Bodies'', satirising the Bright Young Things, the decadent young London society between World War I and World War II, is partly inspired by the Plunket Greene family. Also at Oxford, Richard Plunket Greene made friends with

Anthony Powell Anthony Dymoke Powell ( ; 21 December 1905 – 28 March 2000) was an English novelist best known for his 12-volume work '' A Dance to the Music of Time'', published between 1951 and 1975. It is on the list of longest novels in English. Powell ...

. He was also friend with Rosa Lewis. In the 1920s, he was a school-master at Aston Clinton School. He introduced Waugh to the school’s headmaster, Albert Edward Bredan-Crawford. The Plunket Greene's siblings, Richard, Olivia and David, went often to New York City, to have their trousers cut properly and to frequent the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the ti ...

clubs. Richard Plunket Green was a jazz musician and composer. He was a racing sports car fan and competitor, on 8 August 1928, and on 17 August 1929 he took part at the Tourist Trophy with a

Frazer Nash Frazer Nash was a brand of British sports car manufactured from 1922 first by Frazer Nash Limited founded by engineer Archibald Frazer-Nash. On its financial collapse in 1927 a new company, AFN Limited, was incorporated. Control of AFN passed ...

Boulogne. For a short period he was a business partner of sports-car designer Archibald Frazer-Nash. On 21 December 1926, Evelyn Waugh was best man at Richard Plunket Greene's wedding to Elizabeth Frances Russell (1899-1979), first cousin once removed of

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

. Her aunts were Flora Russell and Diana Russell and her great-grandmother was Diana Russell, Duchess of Bedford.

Patrick Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross John Patrick Douglas Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross (25 June 1904 – 4 June 1976) was a Scottish people, Scottish historian and writer noted for his biography of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and other works on Islamic world, Islamic history. Early life ...

was a guest at the wedding. They had one son Alexander Plunket Greene (1932-1990), who married fashion designer Mary Quant. Plunket Greene and Russell divorced in 1943. In 1932, a story by Plunket Greene, ''A Gamble in Clocks'', appeared in ''Life And Letters Vol. VIII No. 46 September, 1932'', edited by

Desmond MacCarthy Sir Charles Otto Desmond MacCarthy (20 May 1877 – 7 June 1952) was a British writer and literary and dramatic critic. He was a member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, from 1896. Early life and education The son ...

. Together with his wife, in 1932 he wrote ''Where Ignorance is Bliss'', and alone ''The Bandits'', both published by John Murray. In 1934, they wrote ''Eleven-Thirty Till Twelve'', a detective novel set in London Society. Richard Plunket Greene died in 1978 in Falmer, England, and is buried at St Andrew Churchyard, Hurstbourne Priors, Hampshire, near his father and his brother David. When Harman Grisewood, who wanted to write a biography of Gwendolen Maud, Plunket Greene's mother, wrote to Alexander Plunket Greene, this latter told him that his father destroyed everything to do with the family, all correspondence included.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plunket Greene, Richard 1901 births 1978 deaths English jazz musicians British_detective_fiction_writers