For nearly half a century, Roy Strong has been a prominent presence in
Britain's art world. Yet little is known about his life before the
Swinging Sixties, when, at the age of thirty-one, he came on the scene
as the revolutionary young director of London's National Portrait
Gallery.
In this book, Strong recounts his early years and the stirrings of what
would become a lifelong passion for art. During a childhood spent in
suburban North London, Strong recalls himself as a shy and solitary boy
who spent his time painting Elizabethan miniatures and Shakespearean set
designs. The book follows his progression through grammar school, which
he attended alongside Alan Bennett and David Hockney, and university,
where he developed a love of learning and enjoyed visits to the theater,
opera, and ballet. With remarkable honesty, he explores the important
relationships in his life--family, friends, and a schoolteacher with
whom he maintained a long correspondence--as well as his debt to figures
like Cecil Beaton, Frances Yates, C. V. Wedgwood, and A. L. Rowse.
Richly illustrated throughout with photographs, drawings, and letters,
this book offers a compelling look at a young man poised for success.
