Portrait of Malcolm Muggeridge

Malcolm Muggeridge

The Infernal Grove

Collins, 1973. Vol. 2 of his autobiography The Chronicles of Wasted Time.

Lived at Cambridge Gate in the early post-war years.

I remember particularly Regent's Park on a moonlit night, full of the fragrance of the rose gardens; the Nash terraces perfectly blacked-out, not a sign of light anywhere, white stately shapes waiting to be toppled over – as they duly were, crumbling into rubble like melted snow

The author is recalling his night-time walks during the Blitz of 1940-41. In the post-war years,

I used to walk around Regent's Park most afternoons with Tony Powell at the time he was writing the first volume of his Music Of Time, and we would discuss, as we went along, the forthcoming adventures of his characters

Like It Was - The Diaries of Malcolm Muggeridge

Collins, 1981.

March 9, 1948. Came back early and walked with Kitty in Regent's Park. Wonderful evening light, blossoms beginning, Spring coming

Various brief references. On 22nd January 1951, during an evening walk around the terraces, a scream attracts his attention to a drunken row between a man and a woman. This is his most detailed entry regarding the park; like his neighbour Anthony Powell he seems to have been impressed by the violence of the area.