Evelyn Waugh 'had three homosexual affairs at Oxford'
Two of the students with whom he was romantically involved formed the basis for his Brideshead character Sebastian Flyte, according to Paula Byrne in her book Mad World: Evelyn Waugh And The Secrets of Brideshead.
She said he went through an "acute homosexual phase" while a student at Hertford College, Oxford, but rather like the character Charles Ryder in his most famous novel, put it behind him.
While it has long been thought that Waugh, who died in 1966, was bisexual, Byrne said he "absolutely, unquestionably did" have homosexual affairs.
Byrne said: "It was all very much perceived as acceptable as long as it was a phase you grew out of when you left Oxford."
He used to tease friends who had not had a homosexual phase that they had "missed out on something," she said.
She named his Oxford lovers in order as Richard Pares, Alistair Graham and Hugh Lygon...
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She said he went through an "acute homosexual phase" while a student at Hertford College, Oxford, but rather like the character Charles Ryder in his most famous novel, put it behind him.
While it has long been thought that Waugh, who died in 1966, was bisexual, Byrne said he "absolutely, unquestionably did" have homosexual affairs.
Byrne said: "It was all very much perceived as acceptable as long as it was a phase you grew out of when you left Oxford."
He used to tease friends who had not had a homosexual phase that they had "missed out on something," she said.
She named his Oxford lovers in order as Richard Pares, Alistair Graham and Hugh Lygon...