Evelyn Waugh Revisited

Evelyn Waugh, author of Brideshead Revisited, had "fully fledged" homosexual affairs with three fellow students during his Oxford days, a new biography has claimed. It's been long thought that Waugh, who died in 1966, was bisexual, biographer Paula Byrne claims he ''absolutely, unquestionably did'' have homosexual affairs.

Two of the students with whom Waugh was romantically involved inspired his beloved Brideshead character Sebastian Flyte, according to Ms Byrne's Mad World: Evelyn Waugh And The Secrets of Brideshead. Apparently, Waugh went through an "acute homosexual phase" while a student at Hertford College, but like the character Charles Ryder, put it behind him. Ms Byrne names his Oxford lovers in order: Richard Pares, Alistair Graham and Hugh Lygon, and says that while he was "candid" about the relationships with Pares and the well-heeled Graham in his autobiography, he refrained from explicitly describing them as homosexual. In fact, she says that Brideshead was even more autobiographical than has previously been supposed.
Source: The Telegraph