Avowed intent - Frank Pakenham

Frank Pakenham, the seventh Earl of Longford, could be described as the archetypal renaissance man. Born in 1905, he has been at, or near, the epicentre of British cultural, social and political life for most of this century, and is still an active figure in the affairs of the nation. In this volume of memoirs he looks back over a life of richness and diversity and reflects on the spiritual pillars that have supported him through his adulthood - chiefly his Catholicism, his socialism and his wife Elizabeth.;It is a portrait of an eclectic man - a writer and politician who has also enjoyed careers as banker, publisher and Oxford lecturer, as well as instigating celebrated campaigns, some would say crusades, against pornography and in favour of penal reform.;This book touches all these experiences and examies the motivation of a man whose privileged background has sparked an often controversial social conscience. Of impeccable social credentials, educated at Eton and Oxford, Lord Longford has been a bona fide member of the Great and the Good all his life. And yet this is also a man who has also given a huge amount of his time and effort to championing the cause of people whose lives have been diametrically opposed to his own - social outcasts and misfits of all descriptions, whether homeless through misfortune or imprisoned through misdemeanour.;Always conscious of his failure as a frontline soldier during the war, Lord Longford feels that this experience has given him a deeper understanding of failure in others. His unshakable belief in the inherent goodness of humanity, coupled with an innate empathy with those who have suffered, has led to his involvement in a number of projects designed to ease the path of those less fortunate than himself - he has founded centres for ex-prisoners and the homeless, and is a former Chairman of Mencap.;This is the story of a man who has known personally the leading lights of British and European affairs in the 20th-century, and who has himself often been at the forefront of political and social policy-making.