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| − | '''Nigel Nicolson''' [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] ([[1917]] [[January 19]] – [[2004]] [[September 22]]) was a British writer, publisher and politician.
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| − | Nicolson was the son of the writers Sir [[Harold Nicolson]] and [[Vita Sackville-West]]; he had a brother Ben, later an art historian. The boys grew up in [[Kent]], first near their mother's ancestral home at [[Knole]] and then at [[Sissinghurst Castle]], where their parents created a famous garden. Nicolson was sent away from home at a young age to be educated at [[Summer Fields]], a [[prep school]] in [[Oxford]]; [[Eton College]]; and [[Balliol College, Oxford]]. He served with the [[Grenadier Guards]] during [[World War II]], later writing their official history.
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| − | Nicolson wrote many books and founded with [[George Weidenfeld]] the firm Weidenfeld and Nicolson, of which he was a director from 1948 to 1992. He also worked as a broadcaster and was a member of the Ancient Monuments Board.
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| − | Although his father had been first a [[National Labour]] and then a [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] politician, Nigel Nicolson became active in the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] and contested [[Leicester North West (UK Parliament constituency)|Leicester North West]] in 1950 and [[Falmouth and Camborne (UK Parliament constituency)|Falmouth and Camborne]] in 1951, without success. He was elected [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Bournemouth East and Christchurch (UK Parliament constituency)|Bournemouth East and Christchurch]] at a by-election in February 1952. However, he was uncomfortable within the Tory party and voted with Labour to abolish hanging and abstained in a [[vote of confidence]] in the government over the [[Suez War]]. His constituency association called for him to resign and wrote to the Prime Minister briefing against their MP. A ballot of members was called. Unfortunately for Nicolson, a scandal relating to his publishing interests broke at the same time — the company's publication of [[Vladimir Nabokov]]'s ''[[Lolita]]''. Nicolson lost the members' vote and was forced to step down at the [[United Kingdom general election, 1959|1959 general election]].
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| − | Nicolson returned to writing, particularly on heritage and biography. He wrote a celebrated 1973 book on his parents, ''[[Portrait of a Marriage]]''. It balanced a frank account of his [[bisexual]] parents' extramarital affairs (especially [[Vita Sackville-West]]'s '[[elopement]]' with [[Violet Trefusis]]) with their enduring love for each other; it caused an uproar when it was published. He also edited his father's diaries. Later he wrote ''[[the Spectator]]'''s Long Life column and a Time of My Life column for ''[[The Sunday Telegraph]]''. His autobiography, ''Long Life'', was published in 1997.
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| − | In 1953 Nicolson married Philippa, the daughter of [[Gervais Tennyson-d'Eyncourt|Sir Gervais Tennyson-d'Eyncourt]], and they had two daughters, Rebecca, a publisher, Juliet, a historian, and a son, [[Adam Nicolson]], a writer. They divorced in 1970.
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| − | ==Bibliography==
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| − | *''The Grenadier Guards In The War Of 1939–1945'' (1949) with Patrick Forbes
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| − | *''People and Parliament'' (1958)
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| − | *''The United Nations: A Reply to Its Critics'' (1963)
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| − | *''Sissinghurst Castle'' (1964)
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| − | *''Great Houses of Britain'' (1965)
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| − | *''Diaries & Letters of [[Harold Nicolson]]'' (1966) three volumes, editor
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| − | *''Great Houses of The Western World'' (1968)
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| − | *''Alex: The Life of [[Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis]]'' (1973)
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| − | *''[[Portrait of a Marriage]]'' (1973)
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| − | *''Letters of [[Virginia Woolf]]'' (1975) six volumes, editor
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| − | *''The Himalayas'' (1975)
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| − | *''Mary Curzon'' (1977)
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| − | *''The National Trust Book of Great Houses in Britain'' (1978)
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| − | *''Napoleon 1812'' (1985)
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| − | *''Lady Curzon's India: Letters of a Vicereine'' (1986)
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| − | *''Two Roads to Dodge City'' (1986) with Adam Nicolson
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| − | *''The Village in History'' (1988) with Graham Nicholson and Jane Fawcett
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| − | *''Counties of Britain: A Tudor Atlas by [[John Speed]]'' (1989) with Alasdair Hawkyard
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| − | *''The World of [[Jane Austen]]'' (1991)
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| − | *''Vita And Harold : The Letters Of Vita Sackville-west And Harold Nicolson'' (1992) editor
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| − | *''A Long Life: Memoirs'' (1998)
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| − | *''Kent'' (1999)
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| − | *''[[Virginia Woolf]]'', part of the [[Penguin Lives]] biography series (2000)
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| − | *''Lord of the Isles'' (2000) on [[Lord Leverhulme]]
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| − | *''Fanny Burney: The Mother of English Fiction'' (2002)
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| − | *''The Queen and Us : The Second Elizabethan Age'' (2003)
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| − | *''Vita Sackville-West : Selected Writings'' (2003) editor with Mary Ann Caws
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| − | {{s-par|uk}}
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| − | {{succession box
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| − | | title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Bournemouth East and Christchurch (UK Parliament constituency)|Bournemouth East and Christchurch]]
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| − | | years = [[Bournemouth East and Christchurch by-election, 1952|1952]]–[[United Kingdom general election, 1959|1959]]
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| − | | before = [[Brendan Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken|Brendan Bracken]]
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| − | | after = [[John Cordle]]
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| − | *[http://www.nigelnicolson.com/ Mary Curzon This book is about a famed gentle lady of America by Nigel Nicolson]
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| − | *[http://www.nigelnicolson.com A breif biography of Nigel Nicolson]
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| − | {{lgbt|Nigel Nicolson}}
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| − | [[Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from English constituencies]]
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| − | [[Category:Conservative MPs (UK)]]
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| − | [[Category:LGBT people from England]]
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| − | [[Category:British writers]]
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| − | [[Category:Bisexual writers]]
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| − | [[Category:LGBT writers from the United Kingdom]]
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| − | [[Category:LGBT politicians from the United Kingdom]]
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| − | [[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
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