The Mitfords: Communism Vs Fascism In The English Aristocracy | Tale Of Two Sisters | Timeline

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  • Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
  • This documentary focuses on Jessica the Communist and Diana the Fascist. Separated by only a few years in age, but poles apart in ideology. They grew up in a divided Europe at the beginning of the 20th Century, a place and time full of great political tension. Old regimes were clinging on to power and new ones were eager to establish themselves. Many citizens of Europe were forced to decide which moral compass they wished to adopt, and both Jessica and Diana were quick to make that decision.
    Both fiercely competitive, each sister sought out her own distinct identity and clashed with the other siblings as a result. Like so many others of their era, their personal and political lives became so entwined that they ultimately shattered the once strong and loving bonds of sisterhood.
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 1,2 тис.

  • @johnhart3480
    @johnhart3480 2 роки тому +422

    It would seem to be good material for a TV series along the lines of "The Crown" or perhaps even "Game of Thrones" 😀 Truth is stranger than fiction.

    • @merricat3025
      @merricat3025 2 роки тому +18

      Yes, unfortunately times the add fake drama to make them more interesting which to me takes away . I never really watched the crown but I watched the Spanish princess. They put stuff in there that was so untrue. The real story was fantastic but they had stuff and they didn't need to do. Then you don't know what's true and what's not. At least I didn't..

    • @Seamonkey555
      @Seamonkey555 2 роки тому +13

      @@merricat3025 they did that in The Crown as well so I couldn't finish it.

    • @heres1for2day
      @heres1for2day 2 роки тому +14

      Truth is not dramatic enough for Hollywood, but more to the truth, this is what I love about history. Truth isn't created, it's acted out and theater is the story of life written in history. Even if they aren't named, stories like this make me read and learn more than watch someone tell me the story, as I can see the way rather than have it implied.
      This is why I read history.

    • @ianmedford4855
      @ianmedford4855 2 роки тому +9

      Apparently I'm distantly related to these people. Very distantly.

    • @EDDIELANE
      @EDDIELANE 2 роки тому +5

      Downton Abbey almost. Totally!!

  • @judithmatthews8460
    @judithmatthews8460 Рік тому +37

    Gosh the upper class writer who thinks Diana was “made an example of” seems to miss the point that this woman took money from the Germans. Was so close to top Nazis that she was married in Goebells house! Her comments about the persecution of Jews were so loathsome I fail to see the “charm”. Jessica I can admire for her commitment.

    • @ChristopherWatkin-qr3xc
      @ChristopherWatkin-qr3xc Рік тому

      She never took money from the Germans or supported racial persecution of Jews.

    • @mikhailbabushkinum
      @mikhailbabushkinum 11 місяців тому +3

      Diana was undeniably a charming and charismatic woman

    • @glen7318
      @glen7318 4 місяці тому +6

      @@mikhailbabushkinum not really. Nazis aren't.

    • @ryanrusch3976
      @ryanrusch3976 3 місяці тому

      They were both committed wtf ?

    • @henocksherlock3340
      @henocksherlock3340 2 місяці тому

      ​@@glen7318Neither are commies

  • @Smoker2110
    @Smoker2110 2 роки тому +29

    The woman with the little girl voice is really annoying

  • @jonasirw1
    @jonasirw1 2 роки тому +20

    That woman Hope (journalist/ commentator) has the most jarring little girl voice

    • @Contessa6363
      @Contessa6363 18 днів тому

      I think she is a little person hence the voice

    • @erbl6779
      @erbl6779 7 днів тому

      like an animated chipmunk

  • @johnecoapollo7
    @johnecoapollo7 2 роки тому +199

    Excellent documentary on a fashinating subject. I only wish the other four sisters Nancy, Unity, Deborah and Pamela were included. All six girls led interesting lives touched by the turmoil of the era.

    • @divasbraidz
      @divasbraidz 2 роки тому +6

      Nancy and unity were included

    • @johnohara197
      @johnohara197 2 роки тому +11

      The title of this documentary is 'A tale of 2 sisters' that's why the focus is on Diana and Deborah , it's about family relationships , the above title is misleading to a point.
      Thank you

    • @takohamoolsen2432
      @takohamoolsen2432 2 роки тому +2

      With the Mitfords, it could be a mixture of both.

    • @corryjookit7818
      @corryjookit7818 2 роки тому +14

      They' were not as good looking as detailed here. Why do people from the upper classes often have such a low standard when it comes to looks and intelligence.

    • @supernova7848
      @supernova7848 2 роки тому +11

      @@corryjookit7818 because they are following the Aryan standards of beauty. I didn’t find them particularly pretty. Their faces are just round and flat , bland looking to me

  • @mclarenscca
    @mclarenscca 2 роки тому +29

    My 53 yr old brain is always learning something new, and this channel is at the forefront of this! Thank you!

  • @thelastsausage635
    @thelastsausage635 2 роки тому +45

    Nancy Mitford’s books The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate are semi autobiographical and describe their eccentric childhood really well, so funny and charming too🇬🇧

    • @Bluepillphil-d1w
      @Bluepillphil-d1w Рік тому +4

      Watching it on youtube at the moment. Fantastic.

  • @Dybbouk
    @Dybbouk 2 роки тому +32

    I had a friend, the celebrated Irish historian, Professor R B McDowell, who once went on a boat trip with Lady Mosley. McDowell was shivering because of the cold wind, complaining that he hadn't dressed warmly enough. Lady Mosley replied that it had been much colder in 'Brixton nick' during the war.

    • @acerrubrum5749
      @acerrubrum5749 Рік тому

      Diana and her husband received privileged treatment while in prison. Winston Churchill granted permission for the couple to live in a small house inside Holloway Prison. They were given a small garden where they could sunbathe and grow their own vegetables. They were even allowed to employ fellow prisoners as servants.

  • @blauth
    @blauth 2 роки тому +43

    Absolutely brilliant documentary; I knew nothing of this family. Thank you for making this available.

  • @christianfournier6862
    @christianfournier6862 2 роки тому +64

    The book by Mary S. Lovell: “The Mitford Girls; The biography of an extraordinary family”, makes for a marvelously entertaining reading. Beats watching any TV series!

    • @MsJaytee1975
      @MsJaytee1975 2 роки тому +2

      That book is one of my favourites, I highly recommend it.

    • @Schmoopy66
      @Schmoopy66 Рік тому +1

      Or hearing that awful voice from one of the commentators! Cringe.

    • @Ellie-wl3rw
      @Ellie-wl3rw 3 місяці тому +1

      Thanks for the advice! I'll track that one down. 👍

    • @amytrottier8836
      @amytrottier8836 Місяць тому +1

      @christianfournier6862 I couldn’t agree more!

  • @cuteincolour4289
    @cuteincolour4289 Рік тому +10

    I came here after watching Peaky Blinders. This is a great story of the sisters, there's a book/movie/TV show here. Great doco.

  • @gingerbaker4390
    @gingerbaker4390 2 роки тому +19

    As a avid historian, I remember reading bits and pieces about the Mitford sisters. I just gave up. They seemed to me, a mystery wrapped up in a enigma.

    • @finallythere100
      @finallythere100 2 роки тому +3

      In the movie Shadowlands (CS Lewis and his wife Joy) , Joy reflected on the narrative of that (pre WW2) era as, you were either a fascist and destroying the world or a Communist and saving the world. But neither were based on biblical values or Democracy. Was this just the narrative of the intellectual elite, bc I don't recall, from my parents, grandparents, or any other source, that reflecting the mainstream citizens in the USA. Please feel free to share your perspective, Thanks!

    • @glen7318
      @glen7318 2 роки тому +1

      what is mysterious about them? God knows they have written a lot about themselves.

    • @goldilox369
      @goldilox369 2 роки тому +1

      @@finallythere100 loved that movie. And I'm fascinated by the prewar (WW2) period in all the nations. Nothing happens in a vacuum, so they say...

    • @finallythere100
      @finallythere100 2 роки тому +1

      @@goldilox369 - For sure. One book that is not as interesting on a personal level as Shadowlands (except in the beginning) is Bella Dodd's book School of Darkness (and her testimony to Congress in 1953, a bit of it on UA-cam.) All of the pre-WW2 dynamics are complicated, but the issue of the growing influence, and infiltration and spread off Communism in the early 20th century is really key. she goes into incredible detail as she documents how this all happened in the USA. ..... She reportedly also revealed that she was directly involved in the Communist infiltration of the US seminaries (happened in other countries as well, hence the 2 very short books Alta Vendetta and AA 1025 The latter includes the former, which is out of print...). All eye openers as to pre WW2 politics !

    • @glen7318
      @glen7318 2 роки тому

      @@finallythere100 certainly in the 1930s, there was a rivalry between Communism and Fascism. Democracy and captialism seemed to have failed and more radicial solutions seemed to be necessary. Younger people beleived in socialisim or communism and it seemed like the only way of feeding the masses and creating a new world.

  • @jiyushugi1085
    @jiyushugi1085 2 роки тому +106

    These young ladies remind me of my grandmother Gusti Stridsberg, the Austrian heiress, journalist in Moscow, communist collaborator, nurse and journalist in the Spanish Civil War, Soviet agent in Stockholm and writer. Her best selling autobiography, 'Menschen, Mächte und ich' was translated into English as 'My Five Lives' and into Swedish as "Mina fem liv'. Her love life rivaled that of Dr. Zhviago, her adventures those of Indiana Jones. Like many of her generation she left a life of comfort and security to devote herself to the struggle for democracy.

    • @AradSP
      @AradSP 2 роки тому +4

      Was she really your grandmother?

    • @jiyushugi1085
      @jiyushugi1085 2 роки тому +17

      @@AradSP She was indeed. She was my mother's mother. There's also some interesting recently revealed information about her activities in the book 'Mrs Petrova's Shoe', by Wilhelm Agrell, none of which she mentioned in her memoir....

    • @Seamonkey555
      @Seamonkey555 2 роки тому +2

      Oh, looking for her book!

    • @johnecoapollo7
      @johnecoapollo7 2 роки тому +21

      >devote herself to the struggle for democracy
      >Soviet agent in Stockholm
      Well kudos to her for going to the goddamned Spanish Civil War, that must have taken serious chops, I won't even try to dispute that but being a Soviet Agent wasn't fighting for Democracy in any way, shape or form.

    • @tylerbozinovski427
      @tylerbozinovski427 2 роки тому +26

      Did you literally just describe a communist as fighting for democracy? 🤣🤡

  • @katwalkable
    @katwalkable 2 роки тому +35

    This was very interesting thanks. Jessica Mitford wrote a book called the Fine Art of Muckraking. I know because my mother met her in San Jose, CA and did the artwork for the bookcover. This book wasnt mentioned but it was after the American Way of Death.

  • @steveweinstein3222
    @steveweinstein3222 2 роки тому +27

    Had they lived in an earlier - or later - age, the Mitford Sisters would be known, if at all, as beautiful, intelligent, upper-class twits. But they came of age in an evil decade, and they passionately took sides, which has made them immortal. If there's one quote (among so many) that capture the family gestalt, it was the retired nanny who, on hearing that Jessica had run away to Spain, exclaimed, "But she hasn't the right CLOTHES to fit in."

    • @richardwyse7817
      @richardwyse7817 2 роки тому +2

      Joyce opined,"we simply must dress the character".....

  • @zackkilgore528
    @zackkilgore528 2 роки тому +65

    Fascinating how two Aristocrats wound up subscribing to Ideologies that loath them, wonder if it was self hatred or some sort of youth rebellion thing that drove them

    • @magicpyroninja
      @magicpyroninja 2 роки тому +16

      Kind of like how the rich kids are doing the same thing today.
      I went to all the top schools in my family's rich and I'm worth well over a million dollars but I'm going to wear a eat the rich dress because I want the peasants to think I'm with them

    • @clairepeace5783
      @clairepeace5783 2 роки тому +3

      @@magicpyroninja wtf are you on ?? 🇬🇧 this has nothing to do with American rich or poor or American history ?? This is history and about aristocracy of which there is none in America lol 😆 oh I forgot you have The Kardashians 😂 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

    • @oldishandwoke-ish1181
      @oldishandwoke-ish1181 2 роки тому

      Fascism doesn't loathe aristocrats and the wealthy, that the (in practice insincere) claim made by Communism.

    • @gavintuesday4959
      @gavintuesday4959 2 роки тому

      @@magicpyroninja until of course, it’s time to marry . One must marry n breed well. You be chasing the rich man so all you got to do is lie on your back and dream of England

    • @gavintuesday4959
      @gavintuesday4959 2 роки тому +4

      @@clairepeace5783 no one was talking about America

  • @gregoryh3270
    @gregoryh3270 2 роки тому +19

    I enjoyed this! As a kid I remember my father talking about The American Way of Death over the dinner table. As an adult I enjoyed the revised edition, then learned that Jessica lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, as did we. Later I found the 'latest' book covering their amazing lives. (There are many.) So they'll always be "good copy"!

  • @dangerousfreedom4965
    @dangerousfreedom4965 2 роки тому +21

    When Hope started talking I had to quit watching

    • @haroldofcardboard
      @haroldofcardboard 2 роки тому

      ek torombo rikkidoon vild sopitam~sopitam, zik orst achamba!

    • @PLuMUK54
      @PLuMUK54 2 роки тому +6

      I struggled, being partly deaf I understood about half what she said, and even that was so inane that I don't know why she was included.

    • @CrazyCatLady84
      @CrazyCatLady84 2 роки тому +3

      Same,even though the story seems to be a very interesting one

    • @geoffmorris1769
      @geoffmorris1769 6 місяців тому +4

      Dire voice. Not her fault but still dire.

    • @CONNELL19511216
      @CONNELL19511216 22 дні тому +1

      Vocal nightmare indeed

  • @phillylifer
    @phillylifer 2 роки тому +16

    Her calling her aunt a snake shows just how poisoned the family still is. Too much privilege.

  • @CZA27
    @CZA27 2 роки тому +28

    Oh I’ve been obsessed with tales of these ladies. Thank you for posting

  • @einezcrespo2107
    @einezcrespo2107 2 роки тому +89

    Thank you for posting. I love reading about this terribly dysfunctional family though honestly they all could've used some family counselling. What a family! While Jessica and Diana were the most notorious I think the biggest survivor was Deborah the youngest daughter who was a witness to all of the drama her older sisters wrought onto the family. To be honest that rivalry is what tore this family apart. Debo came out on top and mostly unscathed as The Duchess of Devonshire and was the driving force of Chatsworth. There's not much is written about Pamela the Rural Mitford apart from her love for cooking and being the reliable sister despite the ruthless teasing of Nancy and Diana.

    • @NinjaGrrrl7734
      @NinjaGrrrl7734 Рік тому +6

      Agreed, and would add I cannot stand Diane. Even later in life, she excused Mosley and Hitler's fascism. Disgusting. Unity was no loss.

    • @einezcrespo2107
      @einezcrespo2107 Місяць тому

      @@NinjaGrrrl7734 Nancy wasn't exactly an angel. She was quite ruthless with her teasing. The fact she was more or less responsible for Diana's imprisonment without a trial separating her from her children is debatable. Worse Diana didn't know til after Nancy's death. She took care of Nancy in her final months. Pamela is said to have had antisemitic views something I found out of late. Deborah did dabble in politics for awhile supporting her husband Andrew who wasn't fateful. All of the sisters had a skeleton or two.

  • @citizen1163
    @citizen1163 2 роки тому +4

    The Mitfords ..endlessly fascinating.
    So many pics & footage I've never seen before. Marvellous!
    Thanks for sharing!

  • @Happyheretic2308
    @Happyheretic2308 2 роки тому +9

    Hope Whitmore has the most irritating voice I think I’ve ever heard.

  • @chuckabbate5924
    @chuckabbate5924 2 роки тому +18

    These are wonderful documentaries, and stories that are dynamite

  • @71ibanez
    @71ibanez 2 роки тому +12

    Has there ever been a tv drama series about the Mitfords?….if there hasn’t there should be,imagine how good that could be?

    • @torontoson6954
      @torontoson6954 Рік тому +1

      Diana was a character featured in the Netflix series peaky blinders along with Mosley

    • @ChristopherWatkin-qr3xc
      @ChristopherWatkin-qr3xc Рік тому +1

      ​@@torontoson6954 that was complete fiction.

    • @mrsentencename7334
      @mrsentencename7334 10 місяців тому

      @@torontoson6954 They did them so wrong in that show. Unfairly used the names i think.

  • @gothicpagan.666
    @gothicpagan.666 2 роки тому +8

    An interesting side line of study would be; children who grow up in relative isolation and their propensity to live an adult life of slight eccentricity.

  • @Adrian-zd4cs
    @Adrian-zd4cs 2 роки тому +9

    What an incredibly crazy, intriguing and sad story!
    Thanks for this upload!

  • @salomemalherbe677
    @salomemalherbe677 2 роки тому +17

    But when I listen to the affectatious language mannerisms of this video I fear for the worst ... simply too much NARCISSISM

  • @anthonysmith8556
    @anthonysmith8556 2 роки тому +7

    Great story but I'm pleased Hope Whitmore didn't do all the talking, I'm not sure if that voice is put on, I hope so!

    • @fabulousnewt770
      @fabulousnewt770 2 роки тому +4

      Couldn't hear a word she said.. tried with headphones and realised she wasn't saying anything of worth anyway.

  • @gus3247365
    @gus3247365 2 роки тому +18

    The Mitfords, what an interesting family. I've never heard of them until now .. why were they never talked about in the other historical material that I've watched over the years?

    • @jennifer60515
      @jennifer60515 Рік тому

      Same here, I love history and I had never even heard of them until today. Now I want to learn everything that I possibly can about them.

    • @1234cheerful
      @1234cheerful Рік тому

      because 2 of them might have been considered traitors by some? They are kind of a case unto themselves, I think.

  • @termztzu5208
    @termztzu5208 2 роки тому +21

    Hopes voice made this unwatchable what in the name of cebeebies was her voice about

    • @haroldofcardboard
      @haroldofcardboard 2 роки тому

      ek torombo rikkidoon vild sopitam~sopitam, zik orst achamba!

    • @Buster_Piles
      @Buster_Piles 2 роки тому +1

      I agree. She'd be suited to voice a care bear but nothing more serious.

    • @moniquem783
      @moniquem783 2 роки тому +5

      Isn’t it awful! There was a girl at my school whose voice never matured. She still sounded like a little girl when she was 18. I would think it’s probably a medical issue, perhaps a hormone imbalance of some sort.
      The chief health officer in Queensland can’t say her r’s properly. They come out as w’s. Evewy twavellew must have a test priow to awwiving in Queensland. Ugh. I can’t listen to it. So glad I don’t live in Queensland!
      I also struggle with a lot of American women’s voices. They’re so harsh and screechy. This baby voice is probably worse though.

  • @jelena7604
    @jelena7604 Рік тому +5

    Hope Whitmore does not possess the voice quality to be a commentator. Her voice is incredibly distracting.

  • @neilmoore7194
    @neilmoore7194 2 роки тому +22

    V. interesting, I knew Decca quite well the last 10 years of her life. It was more complicated than this film show. Overall, a good documentary

  • @wandajames6234
    @wandajames6234 2 роки тому +27

    They were basically spoiled hothouse flowers who had a sort of inbred education broad in subject but narrow in variety of human interaction.... in their formative years no one ever ran up against them in debate other than each other or their extremely narrow circle. It gave them a sense of over self-importance. It made them bizarre.

    • @lr5450
      @lr5450 2 роки тому +2

      Certainly not Jessica.

    • @SuperStella1111
      @SuperStella1111 Рік тому +3

      Yes, but not Jessica. She turned out beautifully. Humane and clever. Well-educated and kind.

    • @glen7318
      @glen7318 4 місяці тому +1

      @@SuperStella1111 hmmm

  • @wb6004
    @wb6004 2 роки тому +10

    It doesn't rate such dramatic music.

  • @tinachandler3091
    @tinachandler3091 2 роки тому +46

    This was very interesting. I'm glad to see a documentary on them

  • @grybnyx
    @grybnyx 2 роки тому +3

    I guess the background music never stops.

  • @philsooty61
    @philsooty61 2 роки тому +10

    A totally weird family with none of the worries of the working class people they supposedly aligned themselves with, if they where true believers in what they preached then they would have given away their wealth but they didn't, it was all just a game to them, I have no time for any of them except Deborah who I met when I was a child on a school trip to Chatsworth House, she was a very nice Lady!

  • @poetcomic1
    @poetcomic1 2 роки тому +21

    I love how the two sisters battled it out at the family estate one scratching swastikas on the window with her diamond ring, the other scratching hammer and sickle with her diamond.

    • @leedoss6905
      @leedoss6905 Рік тому +4

      No kidding, neither had a clue.

    • @ज़रिया
      @ज़रिया Рік тому +2

      For the millionth time it was not swastika it was hakenkreuz.!! It is seriously offending as a hindu when you refer to the hakenkreuz as the swastika. They are two entirely different thing. When will the west learn, smh. 🤦‍♂️

    • @poetcomic1
      @poetcomic1 Рік тому +2

      @@ज़रिया Another victim of microaggrression! Call an ambulance! Call a grief counselor!

    • @ज़रिया
      @ज़रिया Рік тому

      @@poetcomic1 Continue with your stigmatised propoganda.. i wouldn't want to indulge with you here on 💁‍♂️

    • @poetcomic1
      @poetcomic1 Рік тому +2

      @@ज़रिया Do Hindus want to join the ranks of the 'aggrieved'? I am so disappointed to think so.

  • @saragarratt4397
    @saragarratt4397 2 роки тому +7

    Absolutely fascinating family - all characters in their own right, parents too.

    • @ellebelle8515
      @ellebelle8515 Рік тому

      Yes, from the biography I am presently reading, the parents had extremely interesting lives and personalities- as much so as any of their children.

  • @californiadreamin8423
    @californiadreamin8423 2 роки тому +38

    Interesting in a sickly sort of way. It’s difficult to believe that they had an education and in that respect they were failed by their parents. Born into wealth and privilege , without a real education, is perhaps the explanation for their differing lives.

    • @banks3388
      @banks3388 2 роки тому +25

      A ton of college students go Commie and that's primarily because of the education they receive on college campuses...

    • @pwx13
      @pwx13 2 роки тому +26

      That's illogical, home schooled kids today have a massive advantage vs the state schools. I would never send my kids to a public school, as I don't want them Lgbtq indoctrinated

    • @johnschunk3412
      @johnschunk3412 2 роки тому +25

      @@poolofstuff Big difference between rights and forced indoctrination

    • @Jinka1950
      @Jinka1950 2 роки тому +5

      This naive wealthy gals….searching for a purpose. Theses gals were the precursor to Hanoi Jane Fonda…..not sure what they accomplished.

    • @poolofstuff
      @poolofstuff 2 роки тому +8

      @@johnschunk3412 what exactly is being indoctrinated?

  • @larrydugan1441
    @larrydugan1441 2 роки тому +32

    Very interesting. Interesting how gullible yet otherwise intelligent people get caught up in totalitarian horrors.
    Are we on the cusp of similar political polarization?

    • @projectw.a.a.p.f.t.a.d7762
      @projectw.a.a.p.f.t.a.d7762 2 роки тому +3

      Seems we've entered a new political era, as we see here in the United States are watching the slow implosion of the Demacrat party. What will rise from it's ashes is the new socialist Democrat party, which will play a key role in a basic income etc. A parallel economy is coming to fruition based off of cryptocurrency, and free market capitalism, which offers the incentives for innovation in new technologies products and production process's. As for the republican party it's being reshaped into the national populist republican party. Trump 2024!!! Seems the prolitariat revolution has been subverted by the tech revolution. I just hope the virtual reality utopia doesn't become a real life distopia. Definitely an interesting time to say the least.

    • @lizroberts1569
      @lizroberts1569 2 роки тому +4

      That’s what populism and monetary crash bring about, or in our case Brexit & COVID

    • @projectw.a.a.p.f.t.a.d7762
      @projectw.a.a.p.f.t.a.d7762 2 роки тому +3

      @@lizroberts1569 seems as of covid has led to a great realization seems planner. Have you read about event 201, agenda 2021 and agenda 2030? Its very interesting to say the least. Yuri Bezmenov has a great lecture on today's political scenario. Also Steve Turley has a podcast he's is the most accurately in my opinion, you should check him channel out.

    • @geanettepartington691
      @geanettepartington691 11 місяців тому

      Yes, we are.

    • @Nonameforyoudangit
      @Nonameforyoudangit 8 місяців тому +1

      Not the cusp - the great polarization is here.

  • @Brendan-q2j
    @Brendan-q2j 6 місяців тому +1

    My mother was fascinated by the two Mitford sisters. She would read, watch, listen to anything connected to their behaviour and lives. Would think that she could have written a goodish essay on them and the family. To sum up she considered them to be a pair of selfish, self centred, over privileged , time wasters, a pair of female louts. Never the less they were celebrities of their time, a time that my mother shared with them.

  • @Meeckle
    @Meeckle 2 роки тому +6

    Great documentary. Learned a lot, thank you very much.

  • @janinelindsey6087
    @janinelindsey6087 2 роки тому +54

    Hope Whitmore's voice is unfortunate. She brings a child's tonal quality to an otherwise fascinating documentary.

    • @jessica.L.edwards
      @jessica.L.edwards 2 роки тому +28

      It’s quite jarring. I feel genuinely bad about even thinking it, and would never tease, as it’s not like it’s something she can help. But every time she speaks, it takes me out of the story, and just annoys me.

    • @justmechilling...
      @justmechilling... 2 роки тому +6

      As if she can help that.

    • @justmechilling...
      @justmechilling... 2 роки тому +10

      @@jessica.L.edwards and you should feel bad. Do better.

    • @alanaronald244
      @alanaronald244 2 роки тому +17

      Agreed. Very disturbing, and as Jessica says below, disturbing. And as for the idea that "she can't help it", I'm not quite sure. Many have voice lessons for all types of vocal improvements. People are taught to strengthen their lower registers, and once can learn to deepen one's voice. Many actors have done so..

    • @Vingul
      @Vingul 2 роки тому +10

      @@justmechilling... you’re so virtuous, lmao.

  • @Ellie-wl3rw
    @Ellie-wl3rw 3 місяці тому

    Thank you for an excellent presentation of the Mitford sisters. I discovered a couple of years ago that the "lovely" Mosley was a cousin of mine - I can understand why my family ignored his presence on our tree - but I've so far overlooked his second wife Diana in my research. I'm pleased I watched this documentary first, because it's given me a really good insight into the Mitford household before, during and after the F-bomb. I can now delve not only into Diana's life, but her sisters' lives too. More weight for my sighing bookshelves... 😊

  • @thomasthomas2418
    @thomasthomas2418 2 роки тому +25

    "The Mitfords: Stupid Girls Making Stupid Choices".
    Full stop.

    • @fabulousnewt770
      @fabulousnewt770 2 роки тому

      They seem tedious and dull I dont understand the fuss about them.
      Am I missing something?
      Sound like a bunch of ego maniacs who simply loathed being ignored.

  • @katherinestevens6528
    @katherinestevens6528 17 днів тому

    They talk about Diana's political views being deplorable but not Jessica 's views being deplorable!

  • @ellie698
    @ellie698 2 роки тому +3

    A fascinating documentary, thanks for uploading.

  • @rosaliegolding5549
    @rosaliegolding5549 Рік тому +2

    Have always been fascinated with the Mitford sisters , great Documentary 👏👏👍

  • @capt.molyneaux7037
    @capt.molyneaux7037 2 роки тому +7

    Excellent docu. (You might have mentioned the one brother, killed in W2, was also a fascist.)

  • @facelessqueenie8873
    @facelessqueenie8873 2 роки тому +4

    Cool documentary 👌, just can't concentrate with tinkerbel chipping in. Lol no offense to her.

  • @cdow9032
    @cdow9032 2 роки тому +6

    Enjoying this story, but having great difficulty listening to the small blond girl with the lisp. If the story wasnt so fascinating, I'd have yo turn it off.

  • @jacksonreilly3441
    @jacksonreilly3441 2 роки тому +2

    For Unity's story, the best book I've read is HITLER'S VALKYRIE by David Litchfield.

  • @Blueesteel_
    @Blueesteel_ 2 роки тому +22

    I love how the hammer and sickle is ok but the swastika is not ok…

  • @Richard-qy2bz
    @Richard-qy2bz 2 роки тому +36

    These women had way too much time to waste, should have both been working to pay their own bills.

    • @scottessery100
      @scottessery100 2 роки тому +5

      They were upper class. The rich and elite can’t be seen with commoners

    • @carolannemckenzie3849
      @carolannemckenzie3849 2 роки тому +4

      The only ones who didn't work were Diana and Unity, actually.

    • @bobandbally88
      @bobandbally88 2 роки тому +2

      The upper classes live in a world not familiar to the rest of us.
      Thinking about it can be intoxicating but fitting into it separates new money from breeding.
      If you go back k far enough you'll find a king whose family stopped peasants and acted like gangsters.

    • @cyberhermit1222
      @cyberhermit1222 2 роки тому +3

      Many famous writers, artists, intellectuals, politicians were upper class and had free time to indulge in ideas.

    • @elgee6202
      @elgee6202 Рік тому

      The only "work" women should be doing is domestic duties for their husbands and children.

  • @halo091
    @halo091 2 роки тому +5

    Both ideologies are against aristocracy

  • @TheEhreilly
    @TheEhreilly 2 роки тому +20

    I thought that lady's voice was annoying enough, but then to describe the Republicans in the Spanish Civil war as 'revolutionaries' tipped it over the edge. How can you be expected to take anything she says seriously?!

  • @meejinhuang
    @meejinhuang 2 роки тому +88

    Both systems are failures.

    • @GuilhermePereira-vi6vc
      @GuilhermePereira-vi6vc 2 роки тому +3

      No. Liberalism is the one that is a failure

    • @karabelle67
      @karabelle67 2 роки тому +7

      @@GuilhermePereira-vi6vc u don't think Facism or Communism is a failure? Sounds like you are a liberal yourself.😂😂

    • @GuilhermePereira-vi6vc
      @GuilhermePereira-vi6vc 2 роки тому +12

      @@karabelle67 a liberal? What? Can you even read? I literally said I am against liberalism and you call me a liberal...

    • @marks7167
      @marks7167 2 роки тому +13

      All systems are failures...they are human...pick one.

    • @CC-jw8cj
      @CC-jw8cj Рік тому +2

      same as Western democracy tbh

  • @elizabethannegrey6285
    @elizabethannegrey6285 2 роки тому +9

    Wherever did you find the young lady narrator with blonde hair and that voice?

    • @jockiron
      @jockiron 2 роки тому +3

      Voice of a baby girl!

    • @Buster_Piles
      @Buster_Piles 2 роки тому +2

      At the bottom of the garden with the other fairies.

  • @wendybusby9415
    @wendybusby9415 2 роки тому +2

    I am glad you are using the real names, I have read two books about this family, and it was confusing using all their nicknames and secret language.

  • @madnatty
    @madnatty 2 роки тому +24

    I’ve just read a fiction book, The Mitford Sisters, and I had no idea it was based on a real family!

    • @beckyenglish4783
      @beckyenglish4783 2 роки тому +10

      It’s non-fiction.

    • @lisadellaratta495
      @lisadellaratta495 2 роки тому +2

      @@beckyenglish4783 that's what I was just about to say, lol

    • @eddiesroom1868
      @eddiesroom1868 2 роки тому

      How stinking cute 🦒 Mr Giraffe

    • @madnatty
      @madnatty 2 роки тому +3

      @@beckyenglish4783 No, the one I read was “the Mitford murders’ by Jessica Fellowes, which is a fiction series featuring them all. I got the title wrong.

    • @ianmedford4855
      @ianmedford4855 2 роки тому

      I'm distantly related to these people... I've got the Mitford/Medford 3 black moles on silver coat of arms hanging in my dining room in fact.

  • @peterbaxter2913
    @peterbaxter2913 2 роки тому +12

    I am certain that Hope Whitmore is quite a delighful young lady - but the pitch of her voice needs dropping by a fifth - at the least.

  • @somyod2u
    @somyod2u 2 роки тому +5

    On one hand the father had ' money problems ' but on the other, managed to finance the building, and furnishing, of a large house.

    • @zackkilgore528
      @zackkilgore528 2 роки тому +3

      How do you think he got himself into money problems?

  • @Palletknifepaint
    @Palletknifepaint 2 роки тому +5

    Snobs talking about snobs

  • @lowesonia8551
    @lowesonia8551 Рік тому +4

    I remember seeing an interview in France Of Diana at 80. Incredibly impressionable. Beautiful with fasciating voice, aristocratic consonance. I was completely fascinated.

  • @loupiscanis9449
    @loupiscanis9449 2 роки тому +1

    Thank you Timeline ,
    Dan Snow , U know nowt !
    🐺

  • @garethrogers8460
    @garethrogers8460 2 роки тому +5

    Such a fascinating family.

  • @johnvaleanbaily246
    @johnvaleanbaily246 2 роки тому +14

    A good argument for the demise of the British aristocracy !

  • @lb8781
    @lb8781 2 роки тому +41

    "Froth and darkness" it is. Ultimately the arrogance of self-esteem and hubris inculcated by their childhood privilege and neither one can overcome the fascination by the dictatorship of the state... on either extreme. The great equalizer in these women is their craving for attention and importance in competition with each other. Rather dismal, stunted and unbending characters.

    • @jonathanwarrenberg9260
      @jonathanwarrenberg9260 2 роки тому +10

      How were they on opposite extremes? Both believed in socialism, one National Socialism of the Nazis, the other International Socialism or Communism. Both on the far left of politics, both murderous authoritarian regimes, both financed by American banks.

    • @DrCruel
      @DrCruel 2 роки тому +6

      @@jonathanwarrenberg9260 The irony is that the "far Left" socialist ideologies always end with a small, hereditary, rich, entitled socialist elite and everyone else treated as peasants. It's no wonder they're so appealing to children of the elite.

    • @jonathanwarrenberg9260
      @jonathanwarrenberg9260 2 роки тому +2

      @@DrCruel Indeed.

    • @gavanwhatever8196
      @gavanwhatever8196 2 роки тому +9

      @@jonathanwarrenberg9260 That's an interesting dance, stepping the Nazis all the way from far right to far left.

    • @MrTaxiRob
      @MrTaxiRob 2 роки тому +8

      @@gavanwhatever8196 right wingers never acknowledge their own trash, unless they can themselves get on TV while storming the Capitol (look Ma, no brains!) And even then they blame cosplaying antifa for it, because they are cowards.

  • @s.v.2796
    @s.v.2796 2 роки тому +11

    A.N. Wilson is a brilliant author, much too underappreciated nowadays.

    • @Raydensheraj
      @Raydensheraj 2 роки тому +1

      His book on Darwin was so incredibly bad in every way that after reading it I wouldn't recommend his ideological, hyperpartisan and incredibly bad researched writing...

    • @shariwelch8760
      @shariwelch8760 2 роки тому +1

      @@Hartley_Hare You sound like an idiot in love with himself in your comment, so.

  • @normalizedinsanity4873
    @normalizedinsanity4873 2 роки тому +5

    “The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, and said "this is mine," and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, “Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.”
    Jean Jacques Rousseau, The origins of inequality 1754
    "As for the virtuous poor, one can pity them, of course, but one cannot possibly admire them. They have made private terms with the enemy and sold their birthright for very bad pottage. They must also be extraordinarily stupid. I can quite understand a man accepting laws that protect private property and admitting to its accumulation, as long as he himself is able under those conditions to realize some form of beautiful and intellectual life. But it is almost incredible to me how a man whose life is marred and made hideous by such laws can possibly acquiesce in their continuance."
    Oscar Wilde 1898

    • @deborahdean8867
      @deborahdean8867 Рік тому +1

      Maybe the one guy got tired of his cow wandering off, or his neighbors tired of it trampling his garden. Or wanted to keep animals out. You think property started just when man said this plot is mine? What about wholectribes drivingboff other trines because the land was theirs or they wanted it under their control? People today are narrow minded and cant see their nose for their face. Its preposterous to think there was ever a time people didn't claim land as their own.

  • @celestialteapot309
    @celestialteapot309 2 роки тому +6

    feeding a dog is symbolic of wanting something more earthy? Goodness madam control yourself.

  • @mattburns8839
    @mattburns8839 2 роки тому +3

    I have often wondered if the Mitford sisters weren't at least part of the inspiration for House Tyrell in Game of Thrones. Well, except in real life Margaery ended up marrying Joffrey after all!

  • @richardvolbrecht2935
    @richardvolbrecht2935 2 роки тому +22

    Legends in their own minds

    • @fabulousnewt770
      @fabulousnewt770 2 роки тому +6

      Ain't that the truth... I really don't know if I'm missing something here but they just seem like idiotic hysterics with too much entitlement.

  • @havolei
    @havolei 2 роки тому +2

    The "background" music is very annoying , and not at all needed for the story to flow.

  • @geigertec5921
    @geigertec5921 2 роки тому +29

    Europe juggled with two knives - Fascism and Communism, both ended up stabbing it.

    • @TheWaveGoodbye-Music
      @TheWaveGoodbye-Music 2 роки тому +5

      That's why it's mostly capitalist now and falling apart 🤣

    • @cyberhermit1222
      @cyberhermit1222 2 роки тому

      Whites will be a minority in their own countries within a few decades.
      And you still think Fascism was the problem. You've been indoctrinated your whole life.

    • @TheWaveGoodbye-Music
      @TheWaveGoodbye-Music 2 роки тому +1

      @@cyberhermit1222 got any sources or are those your feelings?

    • @tylerbozinovski427
      @tylerbozinovski427 2 роки тому

      @@cyberhermit1222 Communism is a problem too.

    • @MrTaxiRob
      @MrTaxiRob 2 роки тому

      @@cyberhermit1222 found the racist

  • @radiofreeamerica1864
    @radiofreeamerica1864 2 роки тому +3

    The lisping commentary lends an otherworldly sense i cannot fully express. One can only athumme that they dethperately needed the employ.

    • @SuperStella1111
      @SuperStella1111 Рік тому

      As it happens the Mitfords lisped. Couldn’t pronounce their “r”s. And had reedy, thin voices, in received pronunciations.

  • @-themarwickshow6247
    @-themarwickshow6247 2 роки тому +16

    A very good documentary. But why does the journalist a grownup woman talk like child...ridiculous.

  • @76blackwidow
    @76blackwidow 2 роки тому +4

    Little difficult to listen and understand the blond historian, why does she talk like a toddler..?

  • @warwarneverchanges4937
    @warwarneverchanges4937 2 роки тому +15

    Back in the day when the priviliaged used to LARP in IRL

    • @Mujangga
      @Mujangga 2 роки тому +6

      They still do.

  • @stephenheath8465
    @stephenheath8465 2 роки тому +2

    1930's was a dangerous Decade with the Great Depression and the Spanish Civil War which was an Ideological Petri Dish.Crazy Times which look like we are heading

  • @furtherdefinitions1
    @furtherdefinitions1 2 роки тому +8

    Fascism and Communism are NOT poles apart in ideology. The only difference between communism and fascism is that under fascism, people can still own their own businesses and run their own factories, but the government still dictates terms, and under communism, the state owns all the economic apparatuses. Other than that, everything else is exactly the same. They are both socialist systems, both have exactly the same way of disposing of their opponents and other enemies of the state. However, it is Communism, that by far, has the highest body count and has wreaked the greatest amount of death and carnage in history, and continues to do so, while a whole new generation of ignorant children with no life experience and schooled by ideologues in our schools have somehow been made to believe communism is such a wonderful system. My parents lived under both and escaped them. They said under both, people died or were imprisoned en masse. If anyone believes there is any other differences between these systems, read a book.

    • @cyberhermit1222
      @cyberhermit1222 2 роки тому +1

      And under Capitalism bankers and corporations get to loot the nation. Fascism stopped the global parasites

    • @zackkilgore528
      @zackkilgore528 2 роки тому

      I think folks would understand this better if they learn that Mussolini was once a key figure in the Italian Socialist Party and that he wrote for its newspaper, and that he was even his Chief editor for a while.

    • @PutinsPervertedConcubine64
      @PutinsPervertedConcubine64 2 роки тому

      Says the delusional Republicans 🙄.

  • @markwilliamwestonwilson1503
    @markwilliamwestonwilson1503 2 роки тому +13

    The Mitford A family with far too much for doing so little , Money the key to all evil

    • @DrakonErythros
      @DrakonErythros 2 роки тому +2

      Money is the key to all evil, yet you wouldn’t turn down a million dollars, would you?

    • @Happyheretic2308
      @Happyheretic2308 2 роки тому +1

      Money is just energy. How can energy be evil?

  • @Pighood
    @Pighood 2 роки тому +7

    How old is Hope Whitmore....12?

  • @DutchVanHelsing
    @DutchVanHelsing 2 роки тому +10

    What's with this broad who sounds 3 years old ??

  • @v1e1r1g1e1
    @v1e1r1g1e1 2 роки тому +5

    Don't ever conflate ''intelligent'' with moral or good.

  • @DavidMacDowellBlue
    @DavidMacDowellBlue 2 роки тому +4

    04:20 Isn't everyone who ever lived born before, during or after the first world war? Quite literally everyone?

  • @artistinbeziers7916
    @artistinbeziers7916 2 роки тому +3

    The clip of film at 44' is NOT the wedding in question; it is film of a wedding in the 1950s. Could be said to be more than a little misleading.

  • @xKynOx
    @xKynOx 2 роки тому +1

    My grandmother was part of the group she said they were nice people, she had afternoon tea and went partying with them a lot, she was a anarchist.

    • @normalizedinsanity4873
      @normalizedinsanity4873 2 роки тому

      Kudos to Granny. In those days they walked the talk, knew the risks, and actually understood what they were fighting for. Today people avoid the truth like the plague and keep voting for despots, in the hope one of them will save them.

  • @trollmeistergeneral3467
    @trollmeistergeneral3467 Рік тому +3

    That girl Hope Whitmore has a voice totally and completely unsuited for a television documentary of this nature.
    I can barely understand a word she says.
    Could the makers of this otherwise excellent programme not have found someone better to utter her words?😢

  • @christinalogan311
    @christinalogan311 2 роки тому +4

    Excellent documentary. I find the Mitford sisters fascinating.

  • @cassandra2249
    @cassandra2249 2 роки тому +2

    I prefer Nancy and her very witty books.

  • @brucegibbins3792
    @brucegibbins3792 2 роки тому +13

    Clashing Sisters: seems like a great name for a female rock band.

  • @oldishandwoke-ish1181
    @oldishandwoke-ish1181 2 роки тому +6

    The documentary claims that the sisters were very intelligent. Were they? Or is it rather that we assume that upper class people are intelligent, whether they are or not?

    • @glen7318
      @glen7318 2 роки тому +1

      They were not unintelligent but their education was patchy and their eccentriicty led them into awful byways

    • @Angel-ts8rc
      @Angel-ts8rc Рік тому +1

      They had a neglected education so on paper they were not. But they could read and write and speak intelligently.

  • @redleaderone8429
    @redleaderone8429 2 роки тому +3

    Oh how history repeats itself

  • @MrConan89
    @MrConan89 2 роки тому +2

    A pal of mine who is a member of the Guinness family tells me they were his great Aunts. A cousin of his father was Tara Brown, killed in a Lotus Elan in London - subject of the song lines 'he blew his mind out in a car' in the Lennon-McCartney song "A day in the life'. This chap is a 'remittance man' who never worked a day in his life. Unfortunately he was born out of wedlock so the remittence is quite small, ha ha.

  • @makschorney2514
    @makschorney2514 2 роки тому +3

    For a historical program, about 40% of the accompanying films were out of period!

  • @discod
    @discod 2 роки тому +2

    Isn’t this just part of a longer documentary? I swear I saw all of these interviews before.

  • @Handletaken4
    @Handletaken4 2 роки тому +11

    Homeschooling is frowned upon because it produces unique individuals.

    • @LogBarc
      @LogBarc 2 роки тому +1

      But that was in the 1920s

    • @deborahdean8867
      @deborahdean8867 Рік тому

      No girls among the aristocracy went to a school. They were always educated at home