The Man My Mother Married

Leslie Redvers Wilde was one of six children, born in Birkenhead, England. Leslie grew up the youngest.  "Little Leslie " he was called. There was a younger child, "Chris Pet" who died very early and another girl who was hushed up as a disgrace to the family! He had two older sisters, Isobel and Elizabeth, and an older brother Leyland.

His father was a successful businessman, making hats for gentlemen, with two shops in the area of Liverpool.  I never met either of his parents, but did correspond with his sisters Bess and Belle.  Their beaux had died in WWI and so they remained single the rest of their lives.  The stayed in Liverpool and ran the business.  His brother Leyland died young, but bore one son, David who I did meet on a trip back to England.  David had four children, one of whom, Paul, I still correspond with.  Paul has no children. He is married to a Chinese national and they live near London.

Leslie grew up in a musical environment.  Bess and Belle played either organ or piano, and his brother played the nearby church organ professionally.  Leslie had music training, and played the violin professionally I believe. He believed a good education was of the utmost importance, and would speak of the value of a "well furnished mind".  He was thrilled when David earned a PhD in Physics, and later taught at Bristol University.  He was the first member of the family to attain a college degree.

Leslie was devastatingly handsome, and lived an adventurous life, dating a Russian ballerina while traveling in Russia.  He had a good ear for languages, and picked up a bit of Russian, as well as Japanese, a good imitation of Hitler's blusterings, but only a smattering of French, Italian or other 'educated' languages. Of the classics, he did not know Greek, but had acquired some Latin in school. At one point I believe he took elocution lessons to achieve a perfect BBC accent which never left him.  He had training in the violin and could play the piano effortlessly to the day he died.  He could get a roomful of people gathered around the piano to sing, and could transpose to any key.  

Unfortunately, when I told him I would be taking Algebra next term, he tried his best to help me.  We were equally puzzled at how x + 1 squared could end up so complicated!   He also bought me a chemistry set when I was about ten.  I thought they had made spelling errors because some of the chemicals had 'ite' and others 'ate' at the end.