Jeffrey Bernard

Jeffrey Bernard /bərˈnɑːrd/ (27 May 1932 – 4 September 1997) was a British journalist, best known for his weekly column "Low Life" in The Spectator magazine, and also notorious for a feckless and chaotic career and life of alcohol abuse.

He became associated with the louche and bohemian atmosphere that existed in London's Soho district and was later immortalised in the comical play Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell by Keith Waterhouse.

Bernard was born in London, and was one of three sons of the English architect Oliver Percy Bernard and his opera singer wife Dora Hodges. His siblings were the poet Oliver Bernard, and the photographer Bruce Bernard. Though named Jerry by his parents, at an early age he adopted Jeffrey.

He attended Pangbourne College for two years before his parents responded to the college's protest that he was "psychologically unsuitable for public school life". Oliver Percy Bernard was a second cousin once removed of the actor Stanley Holloway. Thus Jeffrey Bernard was a third cousin to Stanley Holloway, third cousin once removed to Stanley's son and fellow actor Julian Holloway, and third cousin twice removed to Stanley's granddaughter, the author Sophie Dahl.

Even while at school, Bernard had begun to explore Soho and Fitzrovia with his brother Bruce. Seduced by the area's lurid glamour, he moved there at 16, supporting himself in a variety of jobs that were at odds with his middle-class background, including boxer, building labourer, kitchen assistant and coal miner, but still managed to build a circle that embraced Dylan Thomas, Francis Bacon, John Minton, Nina Hamnett, Daniel Farson and the lowlife of bohemian London.

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