30 Somerville Magazine
Hold Onto Your Hope, Hold Onto Your Hat What lessons might a Somervillian who lived and worked through the darkest days of World War Two share with us? Julie Summers, author of a new biography of Audrey Withers, joins us to give the question some thought.
O
ver the past few months, I have been asked many times what Audrey Withers’ reaction to the current crisis might have been. Having given the question so much thought, it occurred to me that I might usefully compare these two historic crises,1940 and 2020, with a view to understanding what lessons one of Somerville’s most indomitable alumnae might have for us.
Audrey always put her ability to cope in difficult situations down to the experience of Oxford’s tutorial system.
For those unfamiliar with her life, Audrey Withers (1924, PPE) is most famous for her role as the editor of British Vogue, a position which she held from 1940 to 1960. During her long tenure at the helm of the world’s most prestigious fashion magazine, she had to cope with a world war, the death of a king, the coronation of a new queen, the Festival of Britain, and more tantrums among her star contributors than most theatre directors suffer in a lifetime - plenty of material, in short, for developing the kind of stoicism and resourcefulness of interest to us as we weather our own historic crisis. But let us remain with Audrey in 1940, not long after the government closed down the country, banned all public gatherings, sporting events and race meetings, shut all theatres and cinemas and forbade meetings of more than 100 people anywhere except church – all of which sounds very familiar to our 2020 ears.
