My biological father's second wife spoke like the Mitford sisters. Adored her right from the moment I first met her as a boy, because of her combination of impeccable manners, impeccable dress, kindness, lots of fun and a complete absence of pretentiousness. We would often get the giggles together over the most idiotic things. Once, for example, we tried to make mayonnaise in a blender, and having put too much in, it shot up and almost hit the ceiling: we fell about giggling for ages, giggling again as we told my father about it. People from all walks of life adored her like I did.
A very dysfunctional family which is not surprising with their type of upbringing, I met Deborah the Duchess of Devonshire, on a school trip to Chatsworth and I've always remembered how warm she was to us kids who where from a poor background, the Duke just stood in the background and said nothing, she was the driving force behind all the changes that put Chatsworth back on the map!
No, they we're the most versatile girls, every one of them individually brilliant and beautiful, they lived the most exciting unaffected lived of any women to have lived, I love all six but Diane is my favourite, I really believe Unity returned to England to give birth to Hitler's son and all three were disappeared after the war but remained close to Edward & Wallis, Diane & Oswald until they died
@@thiest1205 what are you talking about? Diana was an unrepentant fascist, and Unity was even worse. She returned to England becuase she had shot herslef in the head, leaving her permanently disabled.
@@vnine542 It's only unhealthy if you start to agree with Diana that Oswald wasn't really a fascist and might have talked Hitler round to behaving like a gentleman. Diana was, if you'll pardon my manners, a silly bitch and dishonest woman. Unity was quite deranged, but we have the books of Nancy and Jessica to celebrate.
@@jackjohnhameld6401 what an ignorant. Diana was a wonderful and charming lady. And his husband Oswald Mosley as well. The greatest Brithish politician ever.
When I look at pictures of her when she was younger she looks beautiful but in a glacial and scary way. At old age she's still beautiful but in a way she reminds me of a terrifying and snobbish headmistress of a private girls school we met in an episode of 'Midsommer Murders' - one snobbish headmistress in particular, we met a few now that I think about it.
The Mitfords are positively addicting! One of the coolest most unique families of all time. This is so lovely and fun the sisters reading passages from Nancy's books/letters and sharing witty touching childhood memories. Who wouldnt want Nancy as amusing fun sister? The special is a tribute not only to her storytelling talent but resonating of their own memories. Fiction and non fiction deliciously intersecting for them-and us!
I have really enjoyed this!! I love the Mitfords and to hear them speak was a real treat! I was also pleased to see that Pamela's eyes really ARE the same color as her AGA!
Its strange to think they all thought they spoke horridly. I thought when listening, how wonderful to listen to their voices and phrasing. Many people would have thought they were over 'posh"' in their speech and may even have disliked them , thinking they may have thought themselves better than others, even to themselves they disliked it. Thankyou for this, very interesting and open interviews. John (Australia)
What a crying shame that the BBC Music and Arts department, under whose aegis this brilliant, funny and insightful film was made, and for which I worked, was napalmed by John Burt. Julian Jebb, the director and interviewer, was a delightful man. What interviewer today could prompt his subject into another revelatory flash with the words "Do describe!" (It makes them feel honoured, witty, game to have the chance at being amusing...) We have lost all that, and thus lost the BBC. Perhaps it was knowing the way that the wind, blown by the money-crunchers and the activists, was turning against, not just the Mitfords - who gave our national psyche so very much - but against Jebb himself that prompted him to take his own life. He is, by me, as mourned as they. As mourned as the BBC..
It is impossible not to be overwhelmed with melancholy - but one must not succumb; the barbarians will outstay their audience and the institution is ripe for reform.
I found a copy of Hons and Rebels in my parent's bookshelf when I was 13 so love all things Mitford. But curious what why you are bemoaning the BBC's current leadership.
@@deepasanyal3989 Not the current leadership in particular, but the slow throttling by successive governments over four decades of the process of programme-making which allowed Julian the space to create something as charming, valuable and enduring as this. A salary, an office, and time. No target-boxes to tick, no aesthetic constraints imposed, no patronising of our intelligence. He had the well-earned confidence of his Head of Department, whose overriding concern was to record and represent excellence in Music and Art. He would not yield to the insistence of PR men, nor knee-jerk to political faction. There would be honour, and no kow-towing to the Twittermob, or to focus-groups, or to lesser men's managerial interference. I often passed Julian's office. and smiled to see him sitting in apparent reverie: a reverie which in today's rump of a BBC would have him sacked. But that reverie - along with some excellent interviewees, and with the help of a cracking crew - would, twelve months later, flower into documentaries such as this. We and the world could be prouder of the BBC then.
I watched this as an 18 year old when it first aired and it’s amazing how much of it I remembered. What really struck me was Nancy reflecting on how history was re-written in the wake of the horrors of WWII. The Ribbentrop embassy was indeed at the heart of the London high society social whirl in the 30s but that fact was airbrushed from history along with a great deal else. My mother was a well educated girl in the late 1930s and we watched this programme together. She said anti semitism was absolutely rife in all walks of life and ‘jewboy’ was one of the commonest ‘put downs’ you would hear. The unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust traumatized a generation and the pre war psyche which enabled not just the fascist dictators but pernicious widespread fascist sentiment in all societies was expunged and obliterated from the collective national memory.
These days White boy and White girl are. "one of the commonest put downs" we hear in the streets. And on social media. I wonder if people are going to be smart enough to make the connection....
After that shame wore off we now have Jew hatred running rampant again only this time thinly disguised as anti Israel not in small part due to the influx of Muslims to further Hitler's cause.
Now and then I'll search to see if any fresh Mitford content had been uploaded, so what a treat this discovery was! You really get a sense of how alike they all were, and it's probably the closest we'll get to imagining how they might have interacted with each other, with all that wit, intelligence and that glorious sister-shading. Even the way they all tell a funny story with a straight face before breaking into a giggle after the punchline. Those marvelous Mitfords.
Such a fascinating family! I read a book by Deborah Mitford about the family. It was amazing to see all of them in the flesh in this documentary. What a shame these intelligent women were deprived of an education. The things they did manage to accomplish is a tribute to their tenacity, imagination and innate talent.
To amuse people you really have to care. To be playful & make them laugh is an absolute gift to others. Its awesome that her sisters appreciated this about Nancy
A fascinating family.....I have read most of the books written about this unique family. Each girl had different beliefs..but in the end....blood is thicker than water....Pam was my favourite....A Precious video indeed...Thanks for submitting...
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So did I. And what a great received pronunciation...
What a treasure! Seeing Pam and listening to her lovely memories!! Everything I’d ever read about Decca made me really dislike her, so this really gave me a change of heart. Footage of the apt. In France!!! Hearing the tinkly U accents! Be still my heart! And the wonderful Narrator Julian Jebb. Thank you for this!!!
Everything you read made you dislike Jessica Mitford? Two of her sisters were NAZIS! Their father was a declared anti-semite. Jessica had the courage to stand up and say "no, what members of my family believe is absolutely horrible." She gave up the aristocratic lifestyle and lived like a normal person.
@@withonelook1985 Nancy was liked that too. She always disliked Facism and mocked it in her books. Her brother in law and Fascist leader, Sir Oswald Mosley disliked her, partly for that. Nancy called for her sister Diana and Sir Oswald to be arrested during the war (Diana never knew this). Jessica was not the only anti-fascist of the family. Nancy was too but did not reject her background. Oddly enough Jessica refused to speak to Diana but always kept a soft spot for Unity although she was the most extreme of the two. One would never know the true relationship between these exceptional six sisters.
@@oliviero.m750 unity and Decca were the closest in age and came up with the hons cupboard and their own secret language. As teenagers they split a room in the house and had hammer and sickles on one side and swastikas on the other. I don’t think Decca could stop loving Unity, no matter what Unity believed
This video is an absolute treasure since it's one of the few (if not the only one) to contain interviews with all the sisters. Thank you so much for the upload.
This is so fascinating ! Even if you already know all the stories, it's amazing to hear them from the actual sisters themselves! So happy this is on UA-cam!! Thanks!!
Completely absorbing, such a wonderful documentary , I had read many books on The Mitford sisters Especially of The War years an also on Lady Diana Mitford . I did cry at the poignant ending Of her death , so sad 😭.this documentary brought a sense of knowing that was very inspiring Mary Canada 🇨🇦
Thanks for uploading this, I have read about it so many times in the various Mitford books I have read, can hardly believe I have actually seen it. I thought Pam was lost to the mysteries of time!
Wow !! What a most interesting and fascinating group of sisters this lady’s were. And were all quite beautiful children, those photos of there childhood were just so beautiful! I was so surprised to see that no matter the hardships these lady’s had all gone through , well they all still seemed to have such a witty sense of humor , not prudish at all, I so loved this about them. 😊
An amazing family. The collected Mitford girls’ letters are hilarious. A pity Farv wouldn’t let them pursue their education seeing how bright and talented they were..
I find the Mitford sisters, fascinating. So different from each other. Real firebrands....from quite a fascinating time before digitalisation of the world destroyed everything, all the charm, imo. The dad, such a misogynist! But, very much of his time. They just seem to have somehow turned out, during their lives, to be quite resilient, self-knowing/aware...albeit very priveleged. Unapologetic, but with all the manners and graces that are missing these days. All very attractive women. Diana was astoundingly beautiful. I am not much of a fan of that plum in mouth accent, SO affectatious...but it's how they were raised, so one can't hold it against them whatsoever. They were/are, highly entertaining but also so intelligent...and educational - their stories are pure gold in terms of learning about the world and the society they grew up in, and were part of!! I can't get enough, as I LOVE history, especially English and Scottish, my derivation for the most part. The fact they were home-schooled I suspect played a large part on top of the privelege. And their beauty (rather lucky...given when they were born).
absolutely wonderful to see this I have read so much about them but have never seen them talking about one another like this. Was also great to see Pamela who was the quietest sister. fascinating family.
I remember this programme from first time around and was Delighted to see it again. There was another programme around the same time on Jessica - it would be heaven on a plate to see that again too !
Sadly no women can hold a candle to them, mongeral can be British diluting all that had gone before. We now live in a multicultural, non British hell hole
The Mitfords were a charismatic and enchanting family. Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire was perhaps my favourite of the sisters, though of course all of them were truly fascinating.
Oh yes she is my favorite also. I loved watching her and her husband Andrew the Duke of Devonshire in the UA-cam video “Debutants”. They were so charming and amusing to listen to.
I'm fascinated by the Mitford sisters, FASCINATED! Such charm and grace. Of course, Unity and the beautiful Diana were stranger than fiction. Can't believe their father didn't like Evelyn Waugh! Probably because of his religion....
I only just learned about the Mitford Sisters a year or two ago, having run across and read a book about them in my online public library's offerings. So strange to have so many sisters that grow up with so many different outlooks on life! It was too bad their father forbade them education, though.
Thank you so much for this upload. I've been obsessed as a mellinial with these sisters. They're so funny and even the parents sound like my kind of people. It's awesome to see these videos. If you find more gems like this. Please do share them. Historical women!
Fascinating insight to a society utterly expunged in our Post Blair Woketopia. Intelligent amusing, beautifully educated and poised. Delightful, and in the great scheme of things a great part of our social history likely to be forgotten.
Diana didn't know that Nancy told Churchill that Diana was was still a danger to the country when they were thinking of letting her out. This is from Debo's memoir.
@@saramurphy3091 She didn't succeed in her attempts to prevent Diana from getting out. Oswald M. was suffering health problems, and that got them out. I think by that time, the British knew the identities of all the Nazi spies in Britain, and knew that the Mosleys were not part of their network and weren't a threat.
I think they all, father and mother included, were quite handsome and beautiful, but most importantly, eccentric an talented! (Granted, is a little sad that 2 of the sisters went nutsy (errrm nazi).
Yes, Decker, seems to me to be the most genial, down to earth and welcoming of the sisters. But all had their own unique talents and style. Certainly a fascinating family.
Decca caused enormous heartache and problems for the rest of her family. She was a self-interested and at times rather nasty woman. Diana catches a lot of flack for her politics (from the kinds of people willing to ignore the fact that Decca was an apologist for Stalin, and even for the Eastern Bloc after WWII), but by all accounts she was a lovely woman on a personal level and one of the lynchpins holding the family together.
@@guidadiehl9176 Decca recanted and Diana didn’t. And Diana leaving her husband to be the mistress of a married man caused heartache for her family as well
Thank for this amazing piece of History. Please do your best to keep it uploaded as it is a treasure to be watched by as many people as possible. For the generations who haven't known that era it is pure oxygen. And like oxygen it may sometimes make feel disy but soon invigorating in ways one cannot suspect. The true measure of a noble person is that he or she makes you want to be better. May that be where the Mitford sisters magic lyes.
Personally I find Debra the most beautiful and her accent wasn’t quite as High pitched as the others. Love them all though, just a marvelous biography of an incredibly interesting family.
Her terrible illness is diagnosed as fibromyalgia. It should be noted that the symptoms of fibromyalgia, such as pain, are amplified by tobacco use, in particular, cigarettes. I believe Nancy Mitford smoked cigarettes. What a terrible loss. All that wit and intelligence. How I would have loved to be one of her attending sewers. I would even have carried a pocket comb to prove my devotion. Love, James.
@@Patrick3183I think it was Jessica who explained that Farve's "sewer" insult (English pronunciation turns "er" into "ah") was an African word for pig: "sua".
I very much enjoyed this. I have read several books about this family. I have to say that their way of speaking is so upper-class that I struggle a bit to understand them.
I vividly remember reading Jessica's "American Way of Death" many years ago. I read other books by these sisters, and of course, all the Evelyn Waugh books. They were great friends in their 20s and probably later.
Really fascinating family it must surely have to do with how they were raised that all the girls were so independently minded, erudite, and free spirted.
My dear mom. American but born raised during 1925-passed 2011 She reminds me of these ladies the hair clothes Ways And she served ww2 in England in Red cross It is bringing tears to my eyes I wish I had film of her in the 60s etc But pure class A lost age and kind
I was very surprised to hear them say that other English people didn't like their accent! Most Americans think that this is what ALL English people sound like!
Great documentary. I became fascinated with The Mitfords in an odd way. I'm a longtime Formula One fan and Diana's son Max was the former FIA president. I read about his rather infamous parents. Also I have read about Unity on some bios of Hitler and Angela Lambert's bio on Eva Braun. I bought The Sisters by Mary S Lovell and the rest was history.
Haven't seen this documentary before. Struck a bell so I went looking along bookcases ( it never takes me long because I have a kind of instinct for where every book is ) , sure enough there is Madam de Pompadour and the Sun King. Hamish Hamilton involved in so many books too.
Of course now we know that the reason that Nancy never married Hamish was that he was gay, and that he thought their engagement a spoof essentially---Nancy apparently had no idea that he was a homosexual, also the sisters were being very politic on the issue of Peter Rod who would ask pretty much any girl he met at parties to marry him, it was only Nancy who took it seriously and said yes.
I am a bit of an addict as far as reading everything about and by the Mitfords. Such a public lack of self pity hiding much inner pain and torment. Brilliant to have Pam here, much neglected and so capable, as well as Gaston Palewski (The Colonel) inerviewed. And, of course, Nancy fell deeply in love with The Colonel in London, during the War, and went to France principally for him as well as everything Paris could offer. Among the great sadnesses of her life that man. Then Diana, so gracious here, did not discover until after this film was made, that it was Nancy who had told Churchill that Diana was a threat, and why she was incarcerated. Nancy did it twice during the War, and quite rightly. Diana, beautiful, charming and warped. A deep racist and delusional. Pam's husband Derek Jackson, loved his brother more than anyone else. He left Pam . He married five times - to some beauties including Janetta Woolley and ran off with Janetta's half sister, Angela Culme Seymour and later married Barbara Skelton who had been married to Cyril Connolly a lazy talent. Jackson was very wealthy inheriting newspapers, and was a scientist of some distinction, but a blinkered right wing extremist too. Another great sadness was the break up of Muv and Farve in later years over Muv's fascisic tendencies and Muv devotedly caring for the brain damaged Unity on a rather barren island off the cost of Scotland. Unity died and Muv lived on. Managing. Farve married his housekeeper. Jessica meanwhile was sidelined because of her communism. A principled woman who nonetheless woke up rather late to Stalin and his atrocities. Many contradictions and conflicts , but humour laced throughout.
According to Deborah's memoir, "Wait For Me!" Diana never learned of Nancy's testimony against Diana and Oswald, given to Gladwyn Jebb during the war and again later, trying to prevent them from being released. While I agree with Nancy doing so, it was later revealed that the Mosleys were not part of a plot to help the Nazis invade and conquer England.
"Diana, beautiful, charming and warped." Yes, you describe her exactly! Obviously so intelligent and insightful, but she never acknowledged the truth behind why she spent the war years in prison. "Opposed the war" is a little simplistic!
Such a lovely programme, I have been rapt with the Mitford family since reading Nancy's novel The pursuit of Love, and then Love in a Cold Climate. That these novels were based on her own childhood and family made them utterly fascinating. The sisters were all so well spoken, so articulate and interesting people, though I thought Diana's voice very grating as was her insistance that her vile husband Mosley was not anti-semetic. Nancy had, I thought, the saddest life with the frenchman she loved so much never marrying her but marrying another woman. That she suffered so terribly from cancer at the end was unbearably heartbreaking. I have read that when she died she had been re-reading the letters he wrote her, these were scattered about her on the bed. Her headstone was lovely, the little engraved mole was so touching. I wish I could visit her grave and place flowers there as a small thank you for all the pleasure and amusement her books have given me. Very sad that the sisters and Tom are dead, the photos remain but the people themselves long gome.
This video sparks my interest about the Mitford sisters. I have just seen an interview of Dowager Duchess Lady Deborah Devonshire about her own book and she was a delight to listen to. Though they called themselves not educated in a formal sense, they really wete talented, fascinating women.. They had a unique upbringing and they were an nteresting family. I would like to know more about them. Thank you muchly for uploading this video.
Deborah (Debo) was a fan of Elvis. She was also a close friend of Alan Bennett, had tea with Adolf Hitler, and was related through marriage to John F Kennedy.
Unity Mitford was born in London but was conceived in a town called Swastika in Ontario, Canada (no joke)!! That's destiny for you!
My biological father's second wife spoke like the Mitford sisters. Adored her right from the moment I first met her as a boy, because of her combination of impeccable manners, impeccable dress, kindness, lots of fun and a complete absence of pretentiousness. We would often get the giggles together over the most idiotic things. Once, for example, we tried to make mayonnaise in a blender, and having put too much in, it shot up and almost hit the ceiling: we fell about giggling for ages, giggling again as we told my father about it. People from all walks of life adored her like I did.
A very dysfunctional family which is not surprising with their type of upbringing, I met Deborah the Duchess of Devonshire, on a school trip to Chatsworth and I've always remembered how warm she was to us kids who where from a poor background, the Duke just stood in the background and said nothing, she was the driving force behind all the changes that put Chatsworth back on the map!
What was dysfunctional about them?
@@avian8338Exactly.
No, they we're the most versatile girls, every one of them individually brilliant and beautiful, they lived the most exciting unaffected lived of any women to have lived, I love all six but Diane is my favourite, I really believe Unity returned to England to give birth to Hitler's son and all three were disappeared after the war but remained close to Edward & Wallis, Diane & Oswald until they died
@@thiest1205 what are you talking about? Diana was an unrepentant fascist, and Unity was even worse. She returned to England becuase she had shot herslef in the head, leaving her permanently disabled.
Love it when Nancy said Pams birth flew her into a terrible rage for 20 years and when she said Debo has 'turned out rather satisfactory'
Diana was extraordinarily beautiful even into old age. And no plastic surgery!
True !!!!🤗🇬🇧
And a celebrated proud Fascist.
i'm so obsessed with them it's unhealthy
Nothing wrong with that
@@vnine542 It's only unhealthy if you start to agree with Diana that Oswald wasn't really a fascist and might have talked Hitler round to behaving like a gentleman. Diana was, if you'll pardon my manners, a silly bitch and dishonest woman. Unity was quite deranged, but we have the books of Nancy and Jessica to celebrate.
@@jackjohnhameld6401 and you are half the person she was if that
@@jackjohnhameld6401 yeah I think Unity might have had a personality disorder
@@jackjohnhameld6401 what an ignorant. Diana was a wonderful and charming lady. And his husband Oswald Mosley as well. The greatest Brithish politician ever.
Diana was still a great beauty even in old age
She really was. That bone structure.
Externally beautiful, internally hideous.
When I look at pictures of her when she was younger she looks beautiful but in a glacial and scary way. At old age she's still beautiful but in a way she reminds me of a terrifying and snobbish headmistress of a private girls school we met in an episode of 'Midsommer Murders' - one snobbish headmistress in particular, we met a few now that I think about it.
@Ian Turner that’s only a reason to like her the more, in my view.
@@agenttheater5 Her eyes are large and light, which can look glacial to some. I find them fascinating.
The Mitfords are positively addicting! One of the coolest most unique families of all time. This is so lovely and fun the sisters reading passages from Nancy's books/letters and sharing witty touching childhood memories. Who wouldnt want Nancy as amusing fun sister? The special is a tribute not only to her storytelling talent but resonating of their own memories. Fiction and non fiction deliciously intersecting for them-and us!
every work of fiction describes one or various true stories lived by the author. its better than stealing from others.
Yes ! It was all so very fascinating! I love there witty sense of humor!
I couldn't agree more with you very fascinating family to say the least.
So upper class. She would be shocked if she came back today. The world is certainly not upper class any more.
They are so amusing and with sharp memories
What a treasure this is, particularly since one sees and hears quite a lot of the elusive Pamela ("Woman").
She stole the show, without question.
It's such a treat to see Pamela.
Shes great fun!
@@johnlorenzen4633 So true! She's a hoot!
She's delightful!
I think Pam would have been a lot of fun. She's cute.
I have really enjoyed this!! I love the Mitfords and to hear them speak was a real treat! I was also pleased to see that Pamela's eyes really ARE the same color as her AGA!
Click goes the camera and on goes life.....how true a statement!
Its strange to think they all thought they spoke horridly. I thought when listening, how wonderful to listen to their voices and phrasing. Many people would have thought they were over 'posh"' in their speech and may even have disliked them , thinking they may have thought themselves better than others, even to themselves they disliked it. Thankyou for this, very interesting and open interviews. John (Australia)
I like their accent. It´s beautiful.
How did they think they spoke?
@@Patrick3183 Listen to what she said about her speech.
What a crying shame that the BBC Music and Arts department, under whose aegis this brilliant, funny and insightful film was made, and for which I worked, was napalmed by John Burt. Julian Jebb, the director and interviewer, was a delightful man. What interviewer today could prompt his subject into another revelatory flash with the words "Do describe!" (It makes them feel honoured, witty, game to have the chance at being amusing...) We have lost all that, and thus lost the BBC. Perhaps it was knowing the way that the wind, blown by the money-crunchers and the activists, was turning against, not just the Mitfords - who gave our national psyche so very much - but against Jebb himself that prompted him to take his own life. He is, by me, as mourned as they. As mourned as the BBC..
It is impossible not to be overwhelmed with melancholy - but one must not succumb; the barbarians will outstay their audience and the institution is ripe for reform.
@@deanedge5988 Indeed, but Auntie alas by then will have been sent to the institution Herself ...
I found a copy of Hons and Rebels in my parent's bookshelf when I was 13 so love all things Mitford. But curious what why you are bemoaning the BBC's current leadership.
@@deepasanyal3989 Not the current leadership in particular, but the slow throttling by successive governments over four decades of the process of programme-making which allowed Julian the space to create something as charming, valuable and enduring as this. A salary, an office, and time. No target-boxes to tick, no aesthetic constraints imposed, no patronising of our intelligence. He had the well-earned confidence of his Head of Department, whose overriding concern was to record and represent excellence in Music and Art. He would not yield to the insistence of PR men, nor knee-jerk to political faction. There would be honour, and no kow-towing to the Twittermob, or to focus-groups, or to lesser men's managerial interference. I often passed Julian's office. and smiled to see him sitting in apparent reverie: a reverie which in today's rump of a BBC would have him sacked. But that reverie - along with some excellent interviewees, and with the help of a cracking crew - would, twelve months later, flower into documentaries such as this. We and the world could be prouder of the BBC then.
Kit Heskethharvey
Very well said.
Excellent! I'm deep-diving into all things Mitford for awhile and this program is a big treat. I never wanted it to end.
They all have the same giggle I can imagine them all giggling together
Dysfunctional? They were highly intelligent, individual and creative. So much more than today's Kardashian culture.
I watched this as an 18 year old when it first aired and it’s amazing how much of it I remembered. What really struck me was Nancy reflecting on how history was re-written in the wake of the horrors of WWII. The Ribbentrop embassy was indeed at the heart of the London high society social whirl in the 30s but that fact was airbrushed from history along with a great deal else. My mother was a well educated girl in the late 1930s and we watched this programme together. She said anti semitism was absolutely rife in all walks of life and ‘jewboy’ was one of the commonest ‘put downs’ you would hear. The unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust traumatized a generation and the pre war psyche which enabled not just the fascist dictators but pernicious widespread fascist sentiment in all societies was expunged and obliterated from the collective national memory.
Interesting what the aristocracy knew!
These days White boy and White girl are. "one of the commonest put downs" we hear in the streets. And on social media. I wonder if people are going to be smart enough to make the connection....
@@notmypotato3730 WHAT ??
After that shame wore off we now have Jew hatred running rampant again only this time thinly disguised as anti Israel not in small part due to the influx of Muslims to further Hitler's cause.
Thank you for your insight
Now and then I'll search to see if any fresh Mitford content had been uploaded, so what a treat this discovery was! You really get a sense of how alike they all were, and it's probably the closest we'll get to imagining how they might have interacted with each other, with all that wit, intelligence and that glorious sister-shading. Even the way they all tell a funny story with a straight face before breaking into a giggle after the punchline. Those marvelous Mitfords.
I search for new Mitford contest all the time too. What we suffer from is Mitford-Mania. An incurable derangement
A new Mitford contest.... Hmmm. I wonder what that would be like.
lemorab1 i meant content sorry 😐
Jessica was my favorite. I loved her friendship with Maya Angelou and how they called themselves sisters :-)
Wonderful video they were such a talented beautiful and interesting family. Brilliant to watch ❤️
This marks the fourth or fifth time I have watched this. One just never wearies of it,
Such a fascinating family! I read a book by Deborah Mitford about the family. It was amazing to see all of them in the flesh in this documentary. What a shame these intelligent women were deprived of an education. The things they did manage to accomplish is a tribute to their tenacity, imagination and innate talent.
To amuse people you really have to care. To be playful & make them laugh is an absolute gift to others. Its awesome that her sisters appreciated this about Nancy
Yes absolutely!! ❤️
Thank you so very, very much. So much implied, nothing overstated.
They are all so witty and funny
A fascinating family.....I have read most of the books written about this unique family. Each girl had different beliefs..but in the end....blood is thicker than water....Pam was my favourite....A Precious video indeed...Thanks for submitting...
So did I. And what a great received pronunciation...
What a treasure! Seeing Pam and listening to her lovely memories!! Everything I’d ever read about Decca made me really dislike her, so this really gave me a change of heart. Footage of the apt. In France!!! Hearing the tinkly U accents! Be still my heart! And the wonderful Narrator Julian Jebb. Thank you for this!!!
Everything you read made you dislike Jessica Mitford? Two of her sisters were NAZIS! Their father was a declared anti-semite. Jessica had the courage to stand up and say "no, what members of my family believe is absolutely horrible." She gave up the aristocratic lifestyle and lived like a normal person.
@@withonelook1985 Nancy was liked that too. She always disliked Facism and mocked it in her books. Her brother in law and Fascist leader, Sir Oswald Mosley disliked her, partly for that. Nancy called for her sister Diana and Sir Oswald to be arrested during the war (Diana never knew this). Jessica was not the only anti-fascist of the family. Nancy was too but did not reject her background. Oddly enough Jessica refused to speak to Diana but always kept a soft spot for Unity although she was the most extreme of the two. One would never know the true relationship between these exceptional six sisters.
@@oliviero.m750 unity and Decca were the closest in age and came up with the hons cupboard and their own secret language. As teenagers they split a room in the house and had hammer and sickles on one side and swastikas on the other. I don’t think Decca could stop loving Unity, no matter what Unity believed
This video is an absolute treasure since it's one of the few (if not the only one) to contain interviews with all the sisters. Thank you so much for the upload.
Well, not all of them - but I agree.
This is so fascinating ! Even if you already know all the stories, it's amazing to hear them from the actual sisters themselves!
So happy this is on UA-cam!! Thanks!!
it is so wonderful to hear them speak such perfekt English. For me, as a German with English roots in the so called upper class, it sounds like music.
Completely absorbing, such a wonderful documentary , I had read many books on The Mitford sisters
Especially of The War years an also on Lady Diana Mitford . I did cry at the poignant ending
Of her death , so sad 😭.this documentary brought a sense of knowing that was very inspiring
Mary Canada 🇨🇦
I can’t find one that I don’t like lol omg they are all sooo captivating
Thanks for uploading this, I have read about it so many times in the various Mitford books I have read, can hardly believe I have actually seen it. I thought Pam was lost to the mysteries of time!
That was a wonderful insight into the Mitford family. They were fascinating.
Absolutely nuts.
@@waynejones750That’s what makes them fascinating.
Precious document !
Wow !! What a most interesting and fascinating group of sisters this lady’s were. And were all quite beautiful children, those photos of there childhood were just so beautiful! I was so surprised to see that no matter the hardships these lady’s had all gone through , well they all still seemed to have such a witty sense of humor , not prudish at all, I so loved this about them. 😊
The way they all speak is like music to the ears! Endlessly fascinating sisterhood!
Thank you very much for posting this wonderful documentary... it was lovely to hear Pam’s voice reading extracts from her sister’s books.
An amazing family. The collected Mitford girls’ letters are hilarious. A pity Farv wouldn’t let them pursue their education seeing how bright and talented they were..
Several of them became published authors, so I doubt they missed out on much. They were all readers, after all.
@@dhgemein2 They might have found it enjoyable, getting to test and expand their brains and their thinking.
I find the Mitford sisters, fascinating. So different from each other. Real firebrands....from quite a fascinating time before digitalisation of the world destroyed everything, all the charm, imo. The dad, such a misogynist! But, very much of his time. They just seem to have somehow turned out, during their lives, to be quite resilient, self-knowing/aware...albeit very priveleged. Unapologetic, but with all the manners and graces that are missing these days. All very attractive women. Diana was astoundingly beautiful. I am not much of a fan of that plum in mouth accent, SO affectatious...but it's how they were raised, so one can't hold it against them whatsoever. They were/are, highly entertaining but also so intelligent...and educational - their stories are pure gold in terms of learning about the world and the society they grew up in, and were part of!! I can't get enough, as I LOVE history, especially English and Scottish, my derivation for the most part. The fact they were home-schooled I suspect played a large part on top of the privelege. And their beauty (rather lucky...given when they were born).
absolutely wonderful to see this I have read so much about them but have never seen them talking about one another like this. Was also great to see Pamela who was the quietest sister. fascinating family.
Marvelous documentary....thanks so much for taking the time to share it with us!
How lovely to discover this accidentally! The sisters are all characters. Thanks
I remember this programme from first time around and was Delighted to see it again. There was another programme around the same time on Jessica - it would be heaven on a plate to see that again too !
Search Christopher Hitchens Interviews Jessica Mitford.
@@popazz1 thanks. I used to be a huge Hitchens fan (still am to a degree) but have never heard that one.
"Jessica Mitford - The Honourable Rebel", broadcast on 24th April 1977. This programme was originally transmitted on 26th May 1980
Wow..good ol Chris..sorely missed..
Thank you!
This is a brilliant piece. Thanks for the upload!
Sadly no women can hold a candle to them, mongeral can be British diluting all that had gone before. We now live in a multicultural, non British hell hole
What attractive and clever people.
Nancy Mitford the Nazi! My father fought the Nazis in the second world war! A disgusting family.
@@renelevaillant6601 cringe
@@renelevaillant6601 Nancy was a socialist. Diana and Unity were pro-Nazi.
@@renelevaillant6601 Nancy wasn’t a Nazi, she was the lover of Gaston Palewski
@@renelevaillant6601 GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT it was Unity mostly and Diana !! Never NANCY !!!! UNITY was the closest to Hitler !!
what a magnificent documentary of a fascinating woman, from an even more fascinating family. all of whom had such strong beliefs and pronciples.
Her fascist beliefs and principled support of Hitlers death cult were truly remarkable.
Wonderful to see! Thank you.
Hi how're you doing?
Oh those glorious cut glass accents.
Wonderful, wonderful, makes you green with envy.
Great to just listen to those polished and posh upper class accents!
The Mitfords were a charismatic and enchanting family. Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire was perhaps my favourite of the sisters, though of course all of them were truly fascinating.
Yes, I agree. Deborah had a warmth and kindness about her. She was also very beautiful as a young woman.
Oh yes she is my favorite also. I loved watching her and her husband Andrew the Duke of Devonshire in the UA-cam video “Debutants”. They were so charming and amusing to listen to.
I'm fascinated by the Mitford sisters, FASCINATED! Such charm and grace. Of course, Unity and the beautiful Diana were stranger than fiction. Can't believe their father didn't like Evelyn Waugh! Probably because of his religion....
I only just learned about the Mitford Sisters a year or two ago, having run across and read a book about them in my online public library's offerings. So strange to have so many sisters that grow up with so many different outlooks on life! It was too bad their father forbade them education, though.
So so wonderful - an endlessly fascinating family
I once saw Diana elegantly scoffing baked beans from a plastic plate while watching some footy on the telly.
Only sisters can say these things to each other and still be adored!
Such a good looking family.
Great video thank you
Watched before. So wonderful .❤
Thanks for this piece of living history! Fascinating.
Love this so much! Read her books. So funny
Hi how're you doing?
Thank you so much for this upload. I've been obsessed as a mellinial with these sisters. They're so funny and even the parents sound like my kind of people. It's awesome to see these videos. If you find more gems like this. Please do share them. Historical women!
Fascinating insight to a society utterly expunged in our Post Blair Woketopia. Intelligent amusing, beautifully educated and poised. Delightful, and in the great scheme of things a great part of our social history likely to be forgotten.
So funny! 1 was a die hard fascist. 1 was a solid communist. Only Deborah really rose to the occasion and lived a life to be admired.
3 fascists and a communist
Diana didn't know that Nancy told Churchill that Diana was was still a danger to the country when they were thinking of letting her out. This is from Debo's memoir.
Diana died never knowing her sister Nancy sabotaged her getting out of prison.
@@saramurphy3091 She didn't succeed in her attempts to prevent Diana from getting out. Oswald M. was suffering health problems, and that got them out. I think by that time, the British knew the identities of all the Nazi spies in Britain, and knew that the Mosleys were not part of their network and weren't a threat.
Heavenly hilarity. Bless them all.
I think they all, father and mother included, were quite handsome and beautiful, but most importantly, eccentric an talented! (Granted, is a little sad that 2 of the sisters went nutsy (errrm nazi).
I am shocked how many people prefer Diana/ Unity over someone like Jessica.
Yes, Decker, seems to me to be the most genial, down to earth and welcoming of the sisters. But all had their own unique talents and style. Certainly a fascinating family.
@@michelemartin3642 Decca.
Decca caused enormous heartache and problems for the rest of her family. She was a self-interested and at times rather nasty woman. Diana catches a lot of flack for her politics (from the kinds of people willing to ignore the fact that Decca was an apologist for Stalin, and even for the Eastern Bloc after WWII), but by all accounts she was a lovely woman on a personal level and one of the lynchpins holding the family together.
Unity is my favourite
@@guidadiehl9176 Decca recanted and Diana didn’t. And Diana leaving her husband to be the mistress of a married man caused heartache for her family as well
What a gem! Thank you for posting!!! :)
Love anything Mitford they were so fascinating
Thank for this amazing piece of History. Please do your best to keep it uploaded as it is a treasure to be watched by as many people as possible. For the generations who haven't known that era it is pure oxygen. And like oxygen it may sometimes make feel disy but soon invigorating in ways one cannot suspect.
The true measure of a noble person is that he or she makes you want to be better. May that be where the Mitford sisters magic lyes.
Of Deborah - She turned out rather satisfactory in the end.
What a wonderful way of describing a sibling.
Wonderful! An hypnotic portrait. Shame about the brother...but that's war for you.
goodness what a treat!
Personally I find Debra the most beautiful and her accent wasn’t quite as
High pitched as the others. Love them all though, just a marvelous biography of an incredibly interesting family.
Fascinating documentary ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Her terrible illness is diagnosed as fibromyalgia. It should be noted that the symptoms of fibromyalgia, such as pain, are amplified by tobacco use, in particular, cigarettes. I believe Nancy Mitford smoked cigarettes. What a terrible loss. All that wit and intelligence. How I would have loved to be one of her attending sewers. I would even have carried a pocket comb to prove my devotion. Love, James.
Nancy it’s that hog James for you! ( the guy’s name was Watson but her father really did shout that out about a telephone call)
Sewers? Do u mean servants?
@@Patrick3183 no he means sewers. It’s the name her father gave to male suitors and friends who visited the house that he disapproved of
@@Patrick3183I think it was Jessica who explained that Farve's "sewer" insult (English pronunciation turns "er" into "ah") was an African word for pig: "sua".
I very much enjoyed this. I have read several books about this family. I have to say that their way of speaking is so upper-class that I struggle a bit to understand them.
I vividly remember reading Jessica's "American Way of Death" many years ago. I read other books by these sisters, and of course, all the Evelyn Waugh books. They were great friends in their 20s and probably later.
He was Diana’s friend but they had a falling out
Thank you so so much for sharing this - what an absolute treat! Thank you, thank you 🙏
Really fascinating family it must surely have to do with how they were raised that all the girls were so independently minded, erudite, and free spirted.
I am now going to find out more about this wonderful family. How delightful this documentary is.
They age very well.
This was so interesting-thank you for uploading!
This is awesome
Thank you for posting this. What a gem to have come across - having read of the Mitfords many times to then hear from so many in this programme.
Documentary without judgement or needing to interject.
My dear mom. American but born raised during 1925-passed 2011
She reminds me of these ladies the hair clothes
Ways
And she served ww2 in England in Red cross
It is bringing tears to my eyes
I wish I had film of her in the 60s etc
But pure class
A lost age and kind
Wonderful doc!
I was very surprised to hear them say that other English people didn't like their accent! Most Americans think that this is what ALL English people sound like!
That's terrible news!
Brilliant , well done.
Great documentary. I became fascinated with The Mitfords in an odd way. I'm a longtime Formula One fan and Diana's son Max was the former FIA president. I read about his rather infamous parents. Also I have read about Unity on some bios of Hitler and Angela Lambert's bio on Eva Braun. I bought The Sisters by Mary S Lovell and the rest was history.
This book “The Mitford Girls” by Mary S. Lovell is an absolute gem!
Haven't seen this documentary before. Struck a bell so I went looking along bookcases ( it never takes me long because I have a kind of instinct for where every book is ) , sure enough there is Madam de Pompadour and the Sun King. Hamish Hamilton involved in so many books too.
Of course now we know that the reason that Nancy never married Hamish was that he was gay, and that he thought their engagement a spoof essentially---Nancy apparently had no idea that he was a homosexual, also the sisters were being very politic on the issue of Peter Rod who would ask pretty much any girl he met at parties to marry him, it was only Nancy who took it seriously and said yes.
@@omfug7148 yeah Prod tried to break it to Nancy that it was a joke but she’d gotten older and probably saw him as her last chance to be married
I am a bit of an addict as far as reading everything about and by the Mitfords. Such a public lack of self pity hiding much inner pain and torment. Brilliant to have Pam here, much neglected and so capable, as well as Gaston Palewski (The Colonel) inerviewed. And, of course, Nancy fell deeply in love with The Colonel in London, during the War, and went to France principally for him as well as everything Paris could offer. Among the great sadnesses of her life that man. Then Diana, so gracious here, did not discover until after this film was made, that it was Nancy who had told Churchill that Diana was a threat, and why she was incarcerated. Nancy did it twice during the War, and quite rightly. Diana, beautiful, charming and warped. A deep racist and delusional. Pam's husband Derek Jackson, loved his brother more than anyone else. He left Pam . He married five times - to some beauties including Janetta Woolley and ran off with Janetta's half sister, Angela Culme Seymour and later married Barbara Skelton who had been married to Cyril Connolly a lazy talent. Jackson was very wealthy inheriting newspapers, and was a scientist of some distinction, but a blinkered right wing extremist too. Another great sadness was the break up of Muv and Farve in later years over Muv's fascisic tendencies and Muv devotedly caring for the brain damaged Unity on a rather barren island off the cost of Scotland. Unity died and Muv lived on. Managing. Farve married his housekeeper. Jessica meanwhile was sidelined because of her communism. A principled woman who nonetheless woke up rather late to Stalin and his atrocities. Many contradictions and conflicts , but humour laced throughout.
He didn’t marry the housekeeper
@Mrs. Franczak thank you for that fascinating information.
According to Deborah's memoir, "Wait For Me!" Diana never learned of Nancy's testimony against Diana and Oswald, given to Gladwyn Jebb during the war and again later, trying to prevent them from being released. While I agree with Nancy doing so, it was later revealed that the Mosleys were not part of a plot to help the Nazis invade and conquer England.
"Diana, beautiful, charming and warped." Yes, you describe her exactly! Obviously so intelligent and insightful, but she never acknowledged the truth behind why she spent the war years in prison. "Opposed the war" is a little simplistic!
@@Skyebright1 He did.
Such a lovely programme, I have been rapt with the Mitford family since reading Nancy's novel The pursuit of Love, and then Love in a Cold Climate.
That these novels were based on her own childhood and family made them utterly fascinating. The sisters were all so well spoken, so articulate and interesting people, though I thought Diana's voice very grating as was her insistance that her vile husband Mosley was not anti-semetic.
Nancy had, I thought, the saddest life with the frenchman she loved so much never marrying her but marrying another woman. That she suffered so terribly from cancer at the end was unbearably heartbreaking.
I have read that when she died she had been re-reading the letters he wrote her, these were scattered about her on the bed.
Her headstone was lovely, the little engraved mole was so touching. I wish I could visit her grave and place flowers there as a small thank you for all the pleasure and amusement her books have given me.
Very sad that the sisters and Tom are dead, the photos remain but the people themselves long gome.
Thank you for this upload x 😊 the family are aristocratic and a family x and history our British history xx loved it 😊 xx
This video sparks my interest about the Mitford sisters. I have just seen an interview of Dowager Duchess Lady Deborah Devonshire about her own book and she was a delight to listen to. Though they called themselves not educated in a formal sense, they really wete talented, fascinating women.. They had a unique upbringing and they were an nteresting family. I would like to know more about them. Thank you muchly for uploading this video.
Deborah (Debo) was a fan of Elvis. She was also a close friend of Alan Bennett, had tea with Adolf Hitler, and was related through marriage to John F Kennedy.