Looking Back at John Osborne

John Osborne (1929-1994) was the original “angry young man” whose play Look Back in Anger disrupted the complacency of 1950s England, gave voice to a new generation, and made British theatre important again.

Now, as a new production of that first “kitchen sink drama” is due to open at The Almeida Theatre and Oasis is set to reprise the songs of their angry youth, a collection of John Osborne’s most personal possessions from the house in which he spent his final years is coming to auction. The Olympia Auctions sale of pictures and possessions from The Hurst will be held online from 10th – 20th October, with all items on view to the public from 13th – 18th October. Estimates range from £50 – £5,000.

In 1986, John Osborne and his fifth wife, drama critic Helen Dawson, fled the South-East for a quieter life in Shropshire. The Hurst, a large 1812 house on the outskirts of Clun, became their final home. Here he wrote the second volume of his autobiography, Almost a Gentleman, a collection of non-fiction writing, Damn You, England, and his last play Déjà Vu in which Look Back’s Jimmy Porter reappears as an older man.

On Osborne’s death in 1994, The Hurst was acquired by The Arvon Foundation, one of the UK’s leading arts organisations, with the aid of an Arts Council Lottery Grant and has since been cherished as a retreat for Arvon’s creative writing courses.

The Hurst will always be redolent with the atmosphere of the Osbornes and some of their furniture remains in use but items which have been packed away since Osborne’s death are now being sent for sale.

The Hurst’s Director Jo King said: “The paintings, posters, photographs, books, diaries, awards, mementos and desk paraphernalia being sent for sale surrounded Osborne as he wrote and lavishly entertained. Accumulated over a lifetime, there are posters, playbills, programmes and books relating to all his major works: Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer, Luther, A Patriot for Me, Inadmissible Evidence, The World of Paul Slickey, Hotel in Amsterdam, Dejavu and more.

“It is not just the Osbornes who are present in this collection. Cecil Beaton, Lord Snowdon, John Betjeman, Melvyn Bragg, Laurence Olivier, Alan Bates, Patrick Procktor, Leonard Rosoman, Trevor Howard, Denholm Elliott and former wives Mary Ure and Jill Bennett: so many luminaries of the mid to late 20th century are represented. It’s a treasury of theatrical and cultural life centred around one of its most enduring figures.

“Thirty years on, it seems right to let John and Helen’s possessions find new homes – and help us, by their proceeds, to carry out essential repairs to the house and grounds.”

Photographs show Osborne in hats, scarves, sunglasses, watches and a ring that are also included in the sale. A set of Ibsen’s plays, texts on Fielding’s Tom Jones and other books speak of the authors who influenced him or whose work he adapted for film and television. There is a teddy bear and a toy squirrel, possibly signifying the relationship Osborne continued to enjoy with his first wife Pamela Lane long after their divorce in which he was “Bears” and she “Squirrel”. A collection of walking sticks tells of the pleasure he took in the Shropshire hills. There is even a sporran, part of the country gentleman look he favoured in later life. And for those who would like to emulate John Osborne on a Saturday night, there are cushions from his sofa and a box of VHS recordings to go through.