Behind Closed Doors

An entertaining glimpse into an anachronistic world * Guardian *[A] secretive world of arcane rules, unbelievable anecdotes and disreputable behaviour * The Times *A lively and comprehensive study of London clubs … an entertainingly readable and well-researched glimpse into a world * Observer *Thévoz…offers much more than tales of delicious eccentricity, pink gins or popping monocles. He’s a serious researcher, and offers a lively, exhaustively comprehensive, soup-to-cigars history of this cosy but often corrupt institution * Sunday Times *This well-researched romp through the history of the capital’s private members’ clubs overturns many myths along the way…Compendious and entertaining, Behind Closed Doors is the result of thorough research, lightly worn. Thévoz writes with energy, conviction and amusement at the ever-changing variety of human congregation and its foibles * Financial Times *Exuberant, rollicking…Behind Closed Doors is full of amusing anecdotes and waspish character sketches…Thévoz, who is the librarian of the National Liberal Club, clearly knows at first hand what has been going on behind the “closed doors” of his title * Times Literary Supplement *Hugely entertaining and full of stuff I didn’t know I wanted to know, but I now do know, and I’m delighted by it – Jonathan Lynn, co-author of YES, MINISTER and YES, PRIME MINISTERThévoz…is clearly a brilliant researcher. He is very good on the history of clubs and the buildings that house them. As for what went on behind those closed doors, there are riveting snippets between great chunks of earnest fact – Anne de Courcy * Daily Telegraph *A fair-minded overview of three hundred years of club history, neatly researched and quite fact-heavy, but overwhelmingly preoccupied with carnal and financial appetites – Jonathan Parry * London Review of Books *An excellent book. – Alexander LarmanI enjoyed it greatly! It is a remarkable collection of history, anecdote and reference and I’m baffled at how you had any time to eat or sleep whilst researching all the material! – Michael Meadowcroft, former Liberal Democrats MPA great read - rich in evidence and robust in analysis. And full of stories told with dry wit – Dr Matt Cole, University of BirminghamSeth Alexander Thévoz is a wonderful, impressively well-informed tour guide, leading you past the heavily guarded Porter’s Lodge into the vaulted halls of clubland…meticulous…genuinely hilarious * Buzz magazine *Equal parts entertaining and intriguing – Hatchards bookshop, PiccadillyAdmirably broad reach…does a great job of demythologising – Lesley A. HallA splendid new tome * The Chap *Utterly fascinating – Dr Kate Lister, Betwixt the Sheets podcast * HistoryHit *It’s a very interesting book indeed – Michael Portillo * Times Radio *Highly knowledgeable * The Week *Superb – Peter Oborne * Byline Times *Most enjoyable…gave me just exactly the background to the London clubs which I needed – Malcolm Shifrin, author of * Victorian Turkish Baths (2015) *This brilliant book…It is EXTREMELY timely, well told and glorious fun. 10⁄10 – Dr Fern RiddellVery good – Dr Tim StanleySuperb…finished it in two evenings…Impressively wide-ranging and deeply analytical – David Palfreyman, author of * London’s Pall Mall Clubs (2019). *Very much enjoying this splendid volume – Ben SchottKeen to debunk myths…Startling…Thévoz gleefully punctures the notion that clubs were a male bastion – Air Mail

Dr Seth Alexander Thevoz is a freelance historian and journalist. He holds degrees from the Universities of Cambridge, London and Warwick, and is a former research associate of the History of Parliament Trust and Nuffield College, Oxford. He has variously been shortlisted for the Whitfield Prize for his first book, Club Government, and a British Journalism Award for his investigative work with openDemocracy. Since 2013, he has been Librarian of the National Liberal Club in London. He has been known to contribute to Private Eye in some capacity or another, allegedly.

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