Readers who would like to get some flavor of Waugh the man should listen to

these clips from the 1960 BBC-TV interview with John Freeman (who, incredible as

it may seem listening to him now, was considered in his time to be a

ferociously cruel and ruthlessly intrusive interviewer).

Sample:

JF: Have you ever brooded on what appears to you to be unjust or adverse

criticism?

EW: I’m afraid if someone praises me, I think: “What an arse.” And if they

abuse me, I think: “What an arse.”

JF: And if they say nothing about you at all and take no notice of you?

EW: That’s the best I can hope for.

JF: You like that when it happens, do you?

EW: Yes.

JF: Why are you appearing on this program?

EW: Poverty. … No honest man has been able to save money in the last 20

years.