Christopher Hitchens studied PPE at Balliol college, during which time he was a bisexual Trotskyist, and reportedly ‘very attractive in every sense’. He ‘dressed like Che Guevara and charmed like Marilyn Monroe.’ 40 years on, Hitchens died, twice married, borderline alcoholic, borderline obese, and borderline NeoCon. It seems that a lot changed after he left this town…
Whilst at Balliol, Hitchens was involved in left-wing campaigning, frequently taking part in protests. His Marxist credentials were called into question, however, as his social life seemed to revolve around Conservative cliques, and a fair few of his old university buddies have done pretty well for themselves on the right of British politics since graduation.
His Balliol nickname was ‘hypocritchens’ – and with his strange and unhappy marriage of socialist campaigning and Tory drinking, it’s easy to see why. At Oxford, Hitchens was legendary, able to seduce pretty much anything that brushed past him. Gleefully returning to an old boarding school pastime, Hitchens went about accruing a string of male companions. His long-term friendship with Martin Amis was, it seems, more of an unrequited love affair from Hitchens’ side. Sadly, Hitchens was forced to settle for sleeping with Amis’ sister, Sally.
Hitchens sent out ripples of titillation in 2010 when he revealed that he had engaged in affairs with two male future members of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet (just in time to coincide with the launch of his autobiography Hitch-22). Years as a self-proclaimed ‘contrarian’ journalist followed, spanning a vast range of topics. The thread of consistency was an inherent suspicion of authority, which was primarily directed towards the right. Hitchens’ public persona however itself took a large step to the right in mid-September, 2001. He redirected his rhetoric against a new breed of ‘islamofascism’ that had brought down the World Trade Centres and which was now presenting itself as a very real world threat.
His support for the Iraq War saw Hitchens labelled a Neo-Conservative in some disillusioned quarters – a label he vigorously (and justifiably) rejected. A long held feud with Conservative brother Peter had always been mysterious, with uncertain origins, but it seemed at last to resolve itself in the years preceding Hitchens’ death. The relationship thawed and following Christopher’s passing, genuine glimmers of warmth come through in Peter’s Daily Mail column.
Christopher joined the ranks of Richard Dawkins’ anti-God army, as one of the ‘four Horsemen’. Drinking and smoking heavily, and with a quickly expanding waist, Hitchens refused to let himself be slowed down by age. His work continued even once cancer set in. Hitchens died late last year, and we can be certain he had no death-bed conversion, having described the comfort provided as ‘delusory’. Hitchens had a tragically short life, but it is perhaps by virtue of his obvious self-contradictions that by the end he seemed to have lived enough for two.
