| Coulsong
Your Questions
Question 131: Information
about Berkeley Cole?
Q. The movie "Out of Africa" shows Berkeley
Cole with a Somali mistress. Is that true?
A.
A
friend
of the Cole family states that Berkeley Cole was gay, but the
family has not been quoted on the subject. Published documents don't
reveal much about Berkeley Cole. He owned a farm near Nyeri. Elspeth
Huxley writes a few sentences about his antics at the Muthaiga Club but
does not mention his personal relationships. He fought in the Boer War
and with the East African Mounted Rifles during the Great War.
Karen Blixen's published Letters
from Africa
don't mention Berkeley Cole until late 1923--nearly ten years after she
first came to Kenya. That year he visits her a few times with "Finch
Hatton," and sometimes on his own. She says, "Berkeley is an
exceptionally pleasant person, very lively and original . . . He is
interesting to talk to because, being on the legislative counsel he is
very interested in the politics of this country; he is one of the old
friends of the Masai and a great protector of the Somalis . . .
." (LFA, October 4, 1923). In August 1924 she says that the possibility
of marrying him doesn't appeal to her, even though she likes him very
much. It isn't clear why she is thinking about this idea--except that
she says she would like to be married and not to live alone. He died,
of heart failure, in early 1925.
Copyright © 2008 by Linda
Donelson. All rights reserved. During the past quarter century, Linda Donelson has been the only
author writing about Karen Blixen for an international audience. Her
biography, Out of Isak Dinesen (1998), was the Number One Best-Selling Scandinavian / or related title at Amazon.com for five years.
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Supported misspellings:
karen blixon, karin, isaac, isak dineson, isak denison, dinison,
dinisen, denesen, dinnison, dennison, dinnisen, coolsong, donaldson