Voting Station

Auberon Waugh

Please vote to return to collections.

Commentator

The Resume

    (November 17, 1939-January 16, 2001)
    Born in Dulverton, England, United Kingdom
    Wrote 'Auberon Waugh's Diary' for 'Private Eye' magazine (1972-86)
    Edited 'Literary Review' magazine (1986-2001)
    Wrote the 'Way of the World' column for 'The Daily Telegraph' (1990-2000)
    Also contributed to 'The Spectator' and 'New Statesman'
    Son of Evelyn Waugh
    Nicknamed 'Bron'

Why he might be annoying:

    He was suspended from Oxford for unsatisfactory academic performance and decided not to return.
    While doing National Service in Cyprus, he shot himself in the chest at point blank range while fiddling with a machine gun.
    He wrote five novels but gave it up because he hated the inevitable comparisons with his father.
    He ran for Parliament and received 79 votes (1979).
    In 'Who's Who,' he listed his hobby as 'gossip.'
    He called campaigns against drunk driving 'police terror.'
    'The Guardian' called him 'the most verbally brutal journalist of his age.'
    He wrote, 'Looking back at my career and all the people I have insulted, I am mildly surprised I am allowed to exist.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    As a result of the injuries from his accidental shooting, he lost a lung, his spleen, several ribs and a finger, and suffered from pain and frequent infections the rest of his life.
    While waiting for an ambulance, he told his platoon sergeant, 'Kiss me, Chudleigh.' He noted, 'Chudleigh did not recognize the allusion [to Lord Horatio Nelson's dying words] and from then on treated me with extreme caution.'
    He encouraged his wife, Teresa, in her career as a novelist.
    As the editor of 'Literary Review,' he introduced the Bad Sex Award for worst description of sex in a novel.
    Despite his acidic writing, friends said that in person he was courteous and amusing company.
    He was an equal opportunity gadfly, going after both Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe and Conservative PM Margaret Thatcher.
    He wrote, 'Politicians can forgive almost anything by way of abuse; they can forgive subversion, revolution, being contradicted, exposed as liars, even ridiculed, but they can never forgive being ignored.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 11 Votes: 81.82% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 8 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying