Memories of Alan from Daniel Johnson

Sundays at the Briens' cottage by the Thames at Cliveden during the 1960s were unforgettable. Nowhere was the hospitality more generous, the talk more sparkling, the atmosphere more delightful. Children of all ages were treated as grown-up, while the grown-ups rediscovered childish pleasures. Presiding over the carnival was Alan, whose benign - even beatific - countenance could be deceptive. He had a devilish wit and an impish desire to epater le bourgeois - though the delights of Cliveden were bourgeois enough, if not aristocratic. We Johnsons noted that our occasionally irascible father visibly relaxed in Alan's company. As he said on hearing the news of Alan's death: "He made me laugh!" Alan did that much, at least, for almost everyone; but there was more to him than that. His general knowledge was astonishing. And his ability to empathise with children was exceptional, as well as subversive. I am sure that Paradise for Alan will resemble those seemingly endless Sunday afternoons by the river.