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Books

The long and disgraceful life of Britain's pre-eminent bounder

A review of The Man Who Was Norris: The life of Gerald Hamilton, by Tom Cullen. The great thing about this book is that Cullen rarely makes the mistake of taking Hamilton (once described as ‘the wickedest man in Europe’) at his own word

19 July 2014

9:00 AM

19 July 2014

9:00 AM

The Man Who Was Norris: The life of Gerald Hamilton Tom Cullen

Daedalus, pp.338, £11.99, ISBN: 9781909232433

In his time, Gerald Hamilton (1890–1970) was an almost legendary figure, but he is now remembered — if at all — as the model for the genial conman in Christopher Isherwood’s novel Mr Norris Changes Trains (1935). ‘There are some incidents in my career, as you doubtless know, which are very easily capable of misinterpretation,’ Arthur Norris tells the book’s narrator, and Hamilton affected to be deeply shocked by the assorted vices attributed to his fictional alter ego.

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