In Waugh's autobiography, A Little Learning. In the manuscript of Brideshead Revisited, the name 'Alastair' sometimes occurs instead of 'Sebastian'.

In his memoirs, Waugh stated that Graham was the inspiration of Lord Sebastian Flyte even more than Hugh Lygon. According to Philip Eade and others, Waugh is here remembering his own love affair with Graham, started at Barford House in 1923 when Graham was 19. In Brideshead Revisited, Waugh has Charles Ryder revisiting Brideshead Castle, and remembering 'I had been there before, first with Sebastian more than twenty years ago on a cloudless day in June.'. Graham was Waugh's closest friend from 1924 to 1929. The Graham family's early 19th-century country house, Barford House, Barford, Warwickshire, between Warwick and Stratford-upon Avon, was where Alastair entertained Waugh as a guest. Graham sent Waugh a nude photo of himself near a waterfall, asking Waugh to 'Come and drink with me somewhere'. There, Graham was part of the Hypocrites' Club with Waugh. He subsequently studied at Brasenose College, Oxford University, Īt Oxford, he met Evelyn Waugh around Christmas 1923 or slightly before. Īlastair Hugh Graham attended a day school in Leamington Spa and was at Wellington College, Berkshire for a very short time, leaving at fifteen. Kent-Cumberland in Winner Takes All both by Evelyn Waugh. Jessie Graham, a cotton heiress, would later appear as Lady Circumference in Decline and Fall and as Mrs.

His father was the younger son of Sir Frederick Ulric Graham, 3rd Baronet (1820–1888), of the Graham Baronets of Netherby in Cumberland, and Lady Jane Hermione Seymour (1832–1909), daughter of Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset. Come and drink with me somewhere: photograph sent by Graham to Evelyn WaughĪlastair Hugh Graham was born on 27 June 1904 to Hugh Graham (1860-1921), of Barford House, Barford, Warwickshire, and Jessie, daughter of Andrew Low, of Savannah, Georgia.

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