Many people were richer, there can have been few who were idler

I was born on July 13th, 1903, at 32 Gosvenor Square, a space now occupied by the American Embassy. My parents belonged to a section of society known as 'the idle rich', and although in that golden age, many people were richer, there can have been few who were idler. They took no part in public affairs, do not read the newspapers, and where almost entirely without the old upper-class feeling of responsibility for their tenants.

K. Clark, Another part of the wood (1974), 1