Waugh begins his autobiographical story with his inheritance, writing of the energetic, literary, and sometimes eccentric men and women who contributed to his genius. His childhood was for the most part warm, bright and serene, but he remembers the Hampstead and Lancing schooldays which followed as somewhat painful. His life at Oxford was essentially a catalogue of friendship, an exclusive world he recalls with elegant wit and precision. Finally, he closes with his experiences as a master at a preparatory school in North Wales which inspired his work Decline and Fall. Waugh comienza su relato autobiográfico con su herencia, escribiendo sobre hombres y mujeres energéticos, literarios y a veces excéntricos que contribuyeron a su genio. Tuvo una infancia familiar convencional, aunque los años escolares que le sucedieron y que pasaría en Hampstead y Lancing, los recuerda con cierto dolor. Su vida como estudiante en Oxford fue en esencia un catálogo de amistades, un mundo exclusivo que rememora con elegante ingenio y precisión. Finalmente, concluye con sus experiencias como maestro en una escuela preparatoria en el Norte de Gales que le inspiraron su primera novela, Decadencia y caída.