Winton Dean (1916-2013), the renowned musical scholar and critic, gives a sparkling account of his early life – and of his disparate set of forbears. He writes of his controversial father, Basil Dean, the theatrical and film producer and founder of ENSA, his great uncle Rufus Isaacs (supplying new information about his first marriage) and Daisy, Countess of Warwick, mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales.  A deeply divided personality, Winton hoped to pursue a career as a creative artist rather than as a scholar and critic. To this extent he considered his life at least in part a failure.  But he was a brilliant and witty writer, as these memoirs repeatedly demonstrate.           He records his grim years at Elstree and Harrow Schools, where however he was outstandingly successful academically, and the titanic family rows that followed. King’s, Cambridge, where he read Classics, then English, brought an immense release of emotions and inhibitions. There are sharp pen portraits of the