H Warner Allen

Herbert Warner Allen, 52, (1881-1968) was a journalist and editor, with a talent for languages, and a writer on multiple subjects including his wartime exploits, wine, detective novels (the creator of the wine expert sleuth, Mr William Clerihew) and on spirituality (not the brandy). Being a well-respected writer doubtless explains his connection though we cannot get much closer than that (perhaps he contributed to Time and Tide). However there is a record of him attending a similar dinner in May 1931 at the Connaught Rooms in honour of a Mr George Saintsbury, a man of wine and literature, which was also attended by fellow guests from the Rembrandt, Richard Ellis-Roberts (appointed as Time and Tide’s Literary Editor the month before our dinner), and Marcel X. Boulestin and A.H (Robin) Adair, our restaurateurs on Table 12.