In this episode of pplpod, we dive into the chaotic and brilliant life of Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh, recognized as one of the 20th century's greatest English prose stylists. We trace his journey from a bullying schoolboy to a dissipated Oxford student who left university without a degree after embracing the "Hypocrites' Club" lifestyle.

Join us as we discuss:

• The "Bright Young People": How his early social life and failed marriage to Evelyn Gardner—which led friends to call the couple "He-Evelyn" and "She-Evelyn"—fueled early satiric hits like Vile Bodies.
• Conversion and Controversy: His shocking conversion to Catholicism in 1930 and his travels to Abyssinia, which inspired the journalistic satire Scoop.
• War and Brideshead: H ...