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An Appetite for Life
Charles Ritchie’s first volume of diaries, The Siren Years, created a sensation when it was published in 1974. Besides winning the Governor General’s Award for Non-fiction, it was hailed by reviewers on both sides of the Atlantic. An Appetite for Life, his second volume, first published in 1977, deals with his youth in Halifax and his career at Oxford—the years when Charles Ritchie turned from a callow, blundering youth into a callow, blundering young man. As these diaries show, Charles Ritchie had a sharp eye, a keen ear, a highly developed sense of the absurd, and—despite his unhappy knack of landing flat on his face —a thorough “appetite for life.” This is not only a hilariously funny book, but it presents a vivid picture of two worlds—Halifax and Oxford in the mid-twenties—that are now long gone. It also introduces us to an astonishing range of characters, but the most astonishing of all is the young Charles Ritchie himself.
Love's Civil War
The love affair between the celebrated writer Elizabeth Bowen and the elegant and charming Canadian diplomat Charles Ritchie blossomed quickly after their first meeting in 1941 and continued over the next three decades until Bowen's death. Published for the first time, accompanied by extracts from Ritchie's remarkably candid diaries, the love letters of Elizabeth Bowen reveal an intelligent, passionate and wonderfully funny woman. In her letters and his diaries we hear the lovers' voices. Set against an ever-changing backdrop, from the Second World War to the Swinging Sixties, and featuring a glorious cast of socialites, writers and politicians, including Nancy Mitford, Iris Murdoch, Isaiah Berlin and John F Kennedy, Love's Civil War is at once a fascinating and intimate portrait of a great love that endures distance, circumstance and time.
My Grandfather's House
In this book, Charles Ritchie looks back at some of the characters that peopled his childhood and youth, in the years before his brilliant career in Canada’s diplomatic corps began. In these essays we are introduced to his uncles, Harry “Bimbash” Stewart and the dashing, doomed Charlie Stewart; to his indomitable mother; to his mad cousin Gerald; to the newspaper tycoon Lord Beaverbrook; to his college friend Billy Coster, who threw away wealth and a secure future; and to a host of others. With his usual unerring eye and elegant prose, Charles Ritchie brings them all to life again, with affection and wit.
The Siren Years
Charles Ritchie, one of Canada’s most distinguished diplomats, was a born diarist, a man whose daily record of his life is so well written that it leaps from the page. In wartime England, Ritchie, as Second Secretary at the Canadian High Commission, served as private secretary to Vincent Massey, whose second-in-command was Lester B. Pearson, future prime minister of Canada. In a perfect position to observe both statecraft and the London social whirl that continued even during the war, Ritchie provides a fascinating, perceptive, and (surprisingly) humorous picture of the London Blitz – the people in the parks, the shabby streets, the heightened love affairs – and the vagaries of the British at war. There are also glimpses of the great, and portraits of noted artists and writers that he knew well. A vivid document of a period and a wonderful piece of writing, The Siren Years has become a classic.
Laughter Is the Best Weapon
"An army may march on its stomach but it leans on its funny bone." So says Brigadier Charles Ritchie, and he should know. Postings to the Yemen, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, and other far-away trouble spots gave him many opportunities to demonstrate that the ability to laugh - and make others laugh - is an invaluable skill in an officer's kitbag.In Laughter is the Best Weapon - the Remarkable Adventures of an Unconventional Soldier, Charles abandons the popular trend for military heroism and angst-ridden confessions. Instead he leads the reader on a forthright yet light-hearted and self-deprecating journey through his 38 years' service as a Royal Scot. In the process we witness his sometimes si...
Storm Signals
In the fourth volume of selections from his delightfully wise and witty diaries, we see Charles Ritchie, the seasoned (but never stuffy) diplomat, in his last two major postings – as Canadian Ambassador to Washington and as Canadian High Commissioner to London. Full of anecdotes rather than briefing papers (was JFK really “shooing” the new Canadian ambassador out of his office?), Ritchie’s diaries are at their amusing best.
Diplomatic Passport
In his first book, The Siren Years, the public was introduced to Charles Ritchie as a young diplomat serving with the Canadian Embassy in wartime London. In Diplomatic Passport, we follow his career as he climbs the rungs of the diplomatic-service ladder – as an advisor to the Canadian Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1946; as a Counsellor at the Canadian Embassy in Paris, where his friends celebrate Ritchie Week – to the city’s surprise; as Assistant, Deputy, and Acting Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs in Ottawa; as Canadian Ambassador to Bonn, where he finds himself reciting Little Red Riding Hood in German at a state dinner; and as Permanent Ambassador of Canada to the United Nations.
Undiplomatic Diaries
With an Introduction by Allan Gotlieb. One of Canada’s most distinguished diplomats, Charles Ritchie was also a born diarist. Now, for the first time, Ritchie’s diplomatic diaries are collected in one complete volume, covering his entire career in the Canadian Foreign Service. Ritchie creates a startlingly vivid and perceptive portrait of daily life at the centre of major historical events, including one of the finest accounts of the London Blitz ever written—the people in the parks, the shabby streets, the heightened love affairs. Ritchie’s life was a whirl of high-society engagements, and he turns his dry wit and irreverence to the social scene. Evocative and compelling, these diaries beautifully portray a forgotten era.
Ritchie's: The Inside Story
This insider's guide tells how David F. Ritchie founded and developed Ritchie's, achieving national and international recognition for skill, reliability, and service as auctioneers and appraisers. Ritchie reminisces about the firm's struggles and successes and about prominent Canadians whose collections his firm sold. "In this business, one never graduates."...
