So was Bowra a guru after all? There is much in the dossier that could be used to support the accusation. Yet, in the end, the charge cannot stick, for one simple reason. There was no Bowra doctrine to be passed on, no theory to be imposed. On the contrary, what the Bowristas stood for was a determination to think for themselves. The first step, therefore, was to scoff at any unthinking acceptance of convention or dogma. Not for nothing did Bowra call himself the leader of the "Immoral Front". But his immoralism was either a way of challenging others, or a way of expressing his own instincts (sexual and otherwise); it was never an "ism" in the doctrinal sense. And his distaste for closed systems of belief ensured that his own coterie, unlike its Cambridge counterpart in the 1930s, never became a recruiting-ground for communist spies.

Now, 38 years after his death, the number of surviving people who knew him well is rapidly dwindling. His influence may linger on in indirect ways, but the impression given by this richly detailed biography is that his main achievement was to change the lives of those around him - which is, by its very nature, not a long-lasting achievement. On almost every page there are examples of his wit and good sense (and occasional cruelty), his talent for letter-writing and his skill at satirical-pornographic poetry; but the overall effect is to make him seem central not to the world of 20th-century intellectual life, but to the world of anecdotage and academic gossip. Nevertheless, Bowra was a considerable scholar. His many books are dealt with very summarily here, and some major works, such as his extraordinary study of "Heroic Poetry", are hardly mentioned. He was, after all, a campaigner for what he felt were the values of his civilisation. It would be good to know more about his thoughts on the contents of that civilisation, even though this might offer the reader less entertainment than the conduct of the campaign.