THE SECRETS OF EATON SQUARE

Haunted houses.

Historian and journalist Larman fashions a lively portrait of English social and political life, from the early 19th century to the present, through a history of a tony enclave in London’s Belgravia. Beginning in 1824, the area known as Five Fields was transformed, over the next 27 years, into a luxurious neighborhood of 104 houses situated around a tract measuring 1,610-by-382-feet. This was Eaton Square, which later appeared on television as Eaton Place, the fictionalized setting for the series Upstairs, Downstairs. In Victorian times, it was the largest and most prestigious garden square in London; in 2016, it attained the distinction of being named the most expensive real estate in all of Britain. As Larman tours around the square, he offers capsule biographies of notable residents, including visionary American philanthropist George Peabody; lyricist W.S. Gilbert, who lived at Number 90 in his later years; and the scandalous Mitford sister, Diana, who enthusiastically embraced fascism and its leading British proponent, the flagrant womanizer Oswald Mosley. In the 1930s, Eaton Square was home to three prominent Conservative politicians: Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain, and Lord Halifax—as well as to Joachim von Ribbentrop, “former champagne salesman turned German ambassador to Britain, close confidante of Hitler, and an arrogant buffoon.” In a later generation, Margaret Thatcher moved in. Actors Rex Harrison and Vivien Leigh resided there, as did writers Raymond Chandler and Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond. Sean Connery, whom Larman deems the greatest Bond, owned two flats in Eaton Square, although probably never lived in either. Andrew Lloyd Webber claimed his residence harbored a poltergeist. Eaton Square witnessed enough political intrigue, threats of blackmail, and associations with the underworld to furnish Larman with a host of gossipy anecdotes.

A well-researched, entertaining social history.