Lived in what is generally regarded as a lavender marriage (she was his beard) with Janette Ranken (16 December 1877 - 21 May 1970), the sister of his close friend and fellow Slade graduate William Bruce Ellis Ranken (11 April 1881 - 31 March 1941), who painted Thesiger's portrait in 1918. Janette was said to be herself in love with the poet Margaret Jourdain.
Anyone with a modicum of intelligence and the right kind of physique
ought to make a film actor, if they are lucky enough to be told exactly
what to do, and I cannot see that the actor for the screen deserves any
more credit than a schoolboy who is good at dictation should have for
writing admirable prose.
