The Abdication Crisis

Abstract

The departure of Nicolson meant that the ‘Londoner’s Diary’ was once more under the direction of Bruce Lockhart, and two years later he noted on 2 September 1933:

My birthday — forty-six today and still feebler in character and self-control. Fleet Street is no place for me. With very few exceptions I loathe and despise everyone connected with it, and the exceptions are failures. Most of the successful ones have trampled over their mothers or their best pal’s body to lift themselves up. They are dead to decency.¹

The ‘Diary’, however, was not proving a success, and on 14 September Nicolson was invited to lunch by Mike Wardell, who asked him if he would return to the Evening Standard to edit ‘Londoner’s Diary’, with complete control of the staff. Nicolson listed a number of conditions² before rejoining, to all of which Wardell agreed.