Raymond Asquith: Life and Letters

Raymond Asquith was the eldest son of the Prime Minister, step-son of the formidable Margot Asquith. His academic achievements were legendary: at Oxford he won the Craven, Derby and Ireland scholarships, a First in Greats, a fellowship at All Souls. John Buchan described him as a demi-god; 'most noble in presence and with every grace of voice and manner, he moved among us like a being of another world, scornfully detached from the common struggle'. But he was also intensely human, devoting his great talents to friendship and preferring conversation and literature to the struggle for worldly success.