Educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, Howard became friends with Harold Acton and Evelyn Waugh while at Oxford. He began to publish poetry and won the praise of Edith Sitwell, who promoted his work in the late 1920s. He was part of the famous 'Bruno Hat' hoax in 1929, where the unknown (and fictitious) artist's work was exhibited in London to much praise from critics; Howard had painted all of the works. Howard was a partygoer, heavy drinker and addict; he was also a homosexual. In 1930, he published God Save the King, his only substantial collection of poetry. During the 1930s he travelled around Europe and was in France when war broke out in 1939. He visited Somerset Maugham on his yacht a number of times and managed to leave France just before the German invasion. Back in England, he joined MI5 and reported on pro-Nazi sympathisers. His life style eventually led to his dismissal in the summer of 1942. He then volunteered for the RAF and worked as a clerk for a time before being posted to Bomber Command in High Wycombe. There he met Sam, a young Irishman, and the two began a life-long affair. Howard's deteriorating health led to his discharge from the RAF in 1944. During this time, Howard was a regular contributor to the New Statesman. He and Sam travelled around Europe, gaining the reputation of 'undesirables'. Howard had developed tuberculosis and began to rely more and more on drugs. At the beginning of 1958, they moved into a house in Nice which had been purchased Howard's mother. Sam was accidentally asphyxiated from a faulty gas heater and a distraught Howard committed suicide four days later.Howard was a tremendous influence on Evelyn Waugh, who partially based his character of Anthony Blanche in Brideshead Revisited on Howard. |
