Edward James was one of the most enigmatic figures of the twentieth century, a poet, collector, patron and visionary whose life blurred the boundaries between art and dream. He was born in 1907 into immense privilege, the only son of William James, an American millionaire whose fortune had grown out of the railway industry, and Evelyn Forbes, a Scottish aristocrat celebrated for her beauty.

Diarmuid Gavin tell us about most enigmatic figures of the twentieth century.