Editing V. Gordon Childe (section)

==Personal life==

[[File:Bust of V. Gordon Childe.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|The bronze bust of Childe by [[Marjorie Maitland Howard]]{{sfn|Pye|2015|p=132}} has been kept in the library of the Institute of Archaeology since 1958.{{sfn|Harris|1994|p=vii}} Childe thought it made him look like a [[Neanderthal]].{{sfn|Green|1981|p=110}}]]

Childe's biographer Sally Green found no evidence that Childe ever had a serious intimate relationship; she assumed he was [[heterosexual]] because she found no evidence of same-sex attraction.{{sfn|Green|1981|p=20}} Conversely, his student [[Don Brothwell]] thought him to be [[homosexual]].{{sfn|Brothwell|2009|p=199}} He had many friends of both sexes, although he remained "awkward and uncouth, without any social graces".{{sfn|Green|1981|p=20}} Despite his difficulties in relating to others, he enjoyed interacting and socialising with his students, often inviting them to dine with him.{{sfn|Green|1981|p=72}} He was shy and often hid his personal feelings.{{sfn|Trigger|1994|p=9}} Brothwell suggested that these personality traits may reflect undiagnosed [[Asperger syndrome]].{{sfn|Brothwell|2009|p=199}}

Childe believed the study of the past could offer guidance for how humans should act in the present and future.{{sfn|Rowlands|1994|p=35}} He was known for his [[Far-left politics|radical left-wing]] views,{{sfn|Trigger|1984|p=1}} being a socialist from his undergraduate days.{{sfn|Trigger|1994|p=17}} He sat on the committees of several left-wing groups, although avoided involvement in Marxist intellectual arguments within the Communist Party and—with the exception of ''How Labour Governs''—did not commit his non-archaeological opinions to print.{{sfn|Trigger|1984|p=2}} Many of his political views are therefore evident only through comments made in private correspondence.{{sfn|Trigger|1984|p=2}} Renfrew noted that Childe was liberal-minded on social issues, but thought that—although Childe deplored racism—he did not entirely escape the pervasive nineteenth-century view on distinct differences between different races.{{sfn|Renfrew|1994|p=130}} Trigger similarly observed racist elements in some of Childe's culture-historical writings, including the suggestion that [[Nordic race|Nordic peoples]] had a "superiority in physique", although Childe later disavowed these ideas.{{sfn|Trigger|2007|p=248}} In a private letter, Childe wrote to the archaeologist [[Christopher Hawkes]], he said [[Antisemitism|he disliked Jews]].{{sfn|Stout|2008|p=240}}

Childe was an atheist and critic of religion, viewing it as a [[false consciousness]] based in superstition that served the interests of dominant elites.{{sfnm|1a1=McNairn|1y=1980|1p=117|2a1=Trigger|2y=1994|2p=22|3a1=Stout|3y=2008|3p=116}} In ''History'' (1947) he commented that "magic is a way of making people believe they are going to get what they want, whereas religion is a system for persuading them that they ought to want what they get".{{sfn|Childe|1947|p=37}} He nevertheless regarded Christianity as being superior over (what he regarded as) primitive religion, commenting that "Christianity as a religion of love surpasses all others in stimulating positive virtue".{{sfn|Stout|2008|p=116}} In a letter written during the 1930s, he said that "only in days of exceptional bad temper do I desire to hurt people's religious convictions".{{sfn|Díaz-Andreu|2009|p=98}}

Childe was fond of driving cars, enjoying the "feeling of power" he got from them.{{sfnm|1a1=Trigger|1y=1980|1p=18|2a1=Green|2y=1981|2p=72}} He often told a story about how he had raced at high speed down [[Piccadilly]], London, at three in the morning for the sheer enjoyment of it, only to be pulled over by a policeman.{{sfn|Green|1981|p=73}} He loved practical jokes, and allegedly kept a [[halfpenny (British pre-decimal coin)|halfpenny]] in his pocket to trick pickpockets. On one occasion he played a joke on the delegates at a Prehistoric Society conference by lecturing them on a theory that the Neolithic monument of [[Woodhenge]] had been constructed as an imitation of [[Stonehenge]] by a ''nouveau riche'' chieftain. Some audience members failed to realise he was being [[tongue in cheek]].{{sfnm|1a1=Trigger|1y=1980|1p=18|2a1=Green|2y=1981|2pp=114–115}} He could speak several European languages, having taught himself in early life when he was travelling across the continent.{{sfn|Green|1981|pp=124–125}}

Childe's other hobbies included walking in the British hillsides, attending [[classical music]] concerts, and playing the card game [[contract bridge]].{{sfn|Green|1981|p=73}} He was fond of poetry; his favourite poet was [[John Keats]], and his favourite poems were [[William Wordsworth]]'s "[[Ode to Duty]]" and [[Robert Browning]]'s "A Grammarian's Funeral".{{sfn|Green|1981|p=73}} He was not particularly interested in reading novels, but his favourite was [[D. H. Lawrence]]'s ''[[Kangaroo (novel)|Kangaroo]]'' (1923), a book echoing many of Childe's own feelings about Australia.{{sfn|Green|1981|p=73}} He was a fan of good quality food and drink, and frequented restaurants.{{sfn|Green|1981|p=117}} Known for his battered, tatty attire, Childe always wore his wide-brimmed black hat—purchased from a hatter in [[Jermyn Street]], central London—as well as a tie, which was usually red, a colour chosen to symbolise his socialist beliefs. He regularly wore a black Mackintosh raincoat, often carrying it over his arm or draped over his shoulders like a cape. In summer he frequently wore shorts with socks, sock suspenders, and large boots.{{sfnm|1a1=Trigger|1y=1980|1p=18|2a1=Green|2y=1981|2p=76}}