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Book The English Country House Party

Download or read book The English Country House Party written by Phyllida Barstow and published by Sutton Publishing. This book was released on 1998 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the golden age of English country house entertaining, from the death of Prince Albert in 1861 to the outbreak of World War I, invitations passed back and forth among members of the aristocracy. Barstow brings to life the personalities and lifestyles of a vanished age in this carefully researched and illustrated study. International royalty and the political figures of the day also feature, none more memorably than the Shah of Persia, who offered to buy the Marchioness of Londonderry and advised the Prince of Wales to execute the Duke of Sutherland when he became king. The text reveals the social and political importance of the house party and also describes the role of the country house in its local and national setting. The decline of country house living after World War I and the beginnings of the National Trust and other efforts to save for the nation these former playgrounds of the elite form the concluding chapters.

Book The Long Weekend

    Book Details:
  • Author : Adrian Tinniswood
  • Publisher : Basic Books
  • Release : 2016-05-03
  • ISBN : 0465098657
  • Pages : 346 pages

Download or read book The Long Weekend written by Adrian Tinniswood and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From an acclaimed social and architectural historian, the tumultuous, scandalous, glitzy, and glamorous history of English country houses and high society during the interwar period As WWI drew to a close, change reverberated through the halls of England's country homes. As the sun set slowly on the British Empire, the shadows lengthened on the lawns of a thousand stately homes. In The Long Weekend, historian Adrian Tinniswood introduces us to the tumultuous, scandalous and glamorous history of English country houses during the years between World Wars. As estate taxes and other challenges forced many of these venerable houses onto the market, new sectors of British and American society were seduced by the dream of owning a home in the English countryside. Drawing on thousands of memoirs, letters, and diaries, as well as the eye-witness testimonies of belted earls and bibulous butlers, Tinniswood brings the stately homes of England to life as never before, opening the door to a world by turns opulent and ordinary, noble and vicious, and forever wrapped in myth. We are drawn into the intrigues of legendary families such as the Astors, the Churchills and the Devonshires as they hosted hunting parties and balls that attracted the likes of Charlie Chaplin, T.E. Lawrence, and royals such as Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. We waltz through aristocratic soiré, and watch as the upper crust struggle to fend off rising taxes and underbred outsiders, property speculators and poultry farmers. We gain insight into the guilt and the gingerbread, and see how the image of the country house was carefully protected by its occupants above and below stairs. Through the glitz of estate parties, the social tensions between old money and new, the hunting parties, illicit trysts, and grand feasts, Tinniswood offers a glimpse behind the veil of these great estates -- and reveals a reality much more riveting than the dream.

Book The House Party

    Book Details:
  • Author : Adrian Tinniswood
  • Publisher : Faber & Faber
  • Release : 2019-11-05
  • ISBN : 0571350976
  • Pages : 129 pages

Download or read book The House Party written by Adrian Tinniswood and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A delightful journey through the glamorous story of the English country house party by the bestselling historian. Croquet. Parlour games. Cocktails. Welcome to a glorious journey through the golden age of the country house party - and you are invited. Our host, celebrated historian Adrian Tinniswood, traces the evolution of this quintessentially British pastime from debauched royal tours to the flamboyant excess of the Bright Young Things. With cameos by the Jazz Age industrialist, the bibulous earl and the off-duty politician - whether in moated manor houses or ornate Palladian villas - Tinniswood gives a vivid insight into weekending etiquette and reveals the hidden lives of celebrity guests, from Nancy Astor to Winston Churchill, in all their drinking, feasting, gambling and fornicating. The result is a deliciously entertaining, star-studded, yet surprisingly moving portrait of a time when social conventions were being radically overhauled through the escapism of a generation haunted by war - and a uniquely fast-living period of English history. Praise for The Long Weekend: 'Delicious, occasionally fantastical, revealing in ways that Downton Abbey never was. It is as if Tinniswood is at the biggest, wildest, most luxuriantly decadent party ever thrown, and he knows everyone.' Observer 'A deliciously jaunty and wonderfully knowledgeable book. Tinniswood displays a terrific insider's grasp of gossip . A meticulous, irresistible story.' Spectator 'Elegant, encyclopedic and entertaining . A confident and skilled historian who understands the mores of his era and wears his learning lightly . Deserves to be on every costume drama producer's bookshelf.' Times

Book Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder

Download or read book Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder written by Catherine Lloyd and published by Kensington. This book was released on 2022-05-31 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bridgerton and Downton Abbey meet a mystery perfect for fans of Agatha Christie in the debut of a new Regency set series, when drastic circumstances compel Lady Caroline Morton to make an upstairs downstairs switch to become a lady’s companion, whose duties will soon entail solving a murder . . . The options for the penniless daughter of a deceased earl are few indeed in Regency England. So, following the suspicious death of her father, the Earl of Morton, and the discovery that she and her much younger sister have been left without income or home, Lady Caroline takes a post as a lady’s companion to the wealthy widow Frogerton. Just as Caroline is getting accustomed to her new position, her aunt, Lady Eleanor Greenwood, invites her and her employer to a house party in the countryside to celebrate her youngest daughter’s birthday. Mrs. Matilda (Matty) Frogerton sees this as an opportunity to introduce her own rather wild daughter, Dorothy, to the ton, and Caroline is eager to see her sister, who as a child lives with their aunt. But all is not well at the Greenwood estate. For one thing, Lady Caroline’s former fiancé, Lord Francis Chatham, is a guest and refuses to speak to her. Far worse, after a series of troubling harassments of the staff, an elderly family member is found stabbed by a knitting needle. As Caroline and an unexpected ally—Mrs. Frogerton—attempt to solve the chilling crime, they discover the culprit may be leaving bizarre clues as to who will be next in the nursery. But they must make haste, for this heartless killer is engaged in anything but child’s play . . .

Book Noble Ambitions

    Book Details:
  • Author : Adrian Tinniswood
  • Publisher : Basic Books
  • Release : 2021-09-21
  • ISBN : 1541617991
  • Pages : 432 pages

Download or read book Noble Ambitions written by Adrian Tinniswood and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A rollicking tour of the English country home after World War II, when swinging London collided with aristocratic values As the sun set slowly on the British Empire, its mansions fell and rose. Ancient families were reduced to demolishing the parts of their stately homes they could no longer afford, dukes and duchesses desperately clung to their ancestral seats, and a new class of homeowners bought their way into country life. A delicious romp, Noble Ambitions pulls us into these crumbling halls of power, leading us through the juiciest bits of postwar aristocratic history—from Mick Jagger dancing at deb balls to the scandals of Princess Margaret. Capturing the spirit of the age, historian Adrian Tinniswood proves that the country house is not only an iconic symbol, but a lens through which to understand the shifting fortunes of the British elite in an era of monumental social change.

Book The Mad Boy  Lord Berners  My Grandmother  and Me

Download or read book The Mad Boy Lord Berners My Grandmother and Me written by Sofka Zinovieff and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 665 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like The Bolter and Portrait of a Marriage, this beguiling, heady tale of a scandalous ménage à trois among England's upper classes combines memoir and biography to re-create an unforgettably decadent world. Among the glittering stars of British society, Sofka Zinovieff's grandparents lived and loved with abandon. Robert Heber-Percy was a dashing young man who would rather have a drink than open a book, so his involvement with Jennifer Fry, a gorgeous socialite famous for her style and charm, was not surprising. But by the time Robert met and married Jennifer, he had already been involved with a man—Gerald, Lord Berners—for more than a decade. Stout, eccentric and significantly older, Gerald was a composer, writer and aesthete—a creative aristocrat most at home in the company of the era's best and brightest minds. He also owned one of Britain's loveliest stately homes, Faringdon House, in Oxfordshire, which under his stewardship became a beacon of sybaritic beauty. Robert and Gerald made an unlikely couple, especially because they lived together at Faringdon House when homosexuality was illegal. And then a pregnant Jennifer moved into Faringdon in 1942, creating a formidable ménage à trois. In this gorgeous, entertaining narrative of bohemian aristocracy, Sofka Zinovieff probes the mysteries of her grandparents and the third man in their marriage: Gerald, the complex and talented heir to a legendary house, its walls lined with priceless art and its gardens roamed by a bevy of doves, where he entertained everyone from Igor Stravinsky to Gertrude Stein. What brought Robert and Jennifer together under his roof, and why did Jennifer stay—and marry Robert? Blending memoir and biography in her quest to lay old ghosts to rest, Zinovieff pieces together the complicated reality behind the scandals of revelry and sexuality. The resulting story, defined by keen insight, deep affection and marvelous wit, captures the glory and indulgence of the age, and explores the many ways in which we have the capacity to love.

Book The Country House Party

    Book Details:
  • Author : Dora Sigerson Shorter
  • Publisher : Wentworth Press
  • Release : 2019-03
  • ISBN : 9780526653058
  • Pages : 314 pages

Download or read book The Country House Party written by Dora Sigerson Shorter and published by Wentworth Press. This book was released on 2019-03 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Book Country House Party

    Book Details:
  • Author : Dora Sigerson Shorter
  • Publisher :
  • Release : 2019
  • ISBN : 9780243710508
  • Pages : pages

Download or read book Country House Party written by Dora Sigerson Shorter and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Life in the English Country House

Download or read book Life in the English Country House written by Mark Girouard and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1978-01-01 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on the author's Slade lectures given at Oxford University in 1975-76.

Book Carney s House Party Winona s Pony Cart

Download or read book Carney s House Party Winona s Pony Cart written by Maud Hart Lovelace and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-04-26 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Some characters become your friends for life. That’s how it was for me with Betsy-Tacy.” —Judy Blume “I am fairly certain that my independent, high-spirited grandmother must have had a childhood similar to Betsy Ray’s….As I read...I felt that I was having an unexpected and welcome peek into Granny’s childhood.” —Ann M. Martin, author of The Baby-sitter's Club Two of Maud Hart Lovelace’s beloved Deep Valley books join the Harper Perennial Modern Classics library, next to other enduring favorites like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, To Kill a Mockingbird and Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy books. This beautiful combination edition of Carney's House Party and Winona's Pony Cart features a foreword by author Melissa Wiley and a never-before-published biography of Lovelace illustrator Vera Neville.

Book English Country House Explained

Download or read book English Country House Explained written by Trevor Yorke and published by Countryside Books (GB). This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: England's country houses have never been more popular with visitors. Most are packed with masterpieces of art and antiques, and they have vast landscaped gardens, often with lakes and fountains. They reflect all the splendour of England's glory years. Trevor Yorke, using original drawings, diagrams and photographs, takes the reader on a careful tour of the country house and describes its features, exterior and interior, upstairs and downstairs. He looks at the different periods of large country houses from the mid 1500s up to 1914, explaining the changing architectural styles. He describes the different rooms within the main house and their changing roles over the centuries. There is a glossary of architectural terms, and a quick reference time chart listing country house architects and the notable buildings they designed, with drawings of the period details that help to date them.

Book An English Murder

    Book Details:
  • Author : Cyril Hare
  • Publisher : Wildside Press LLC
  • Release : 2023-07-03
  • ISBN : 1667627317
  • Pages : 252 pages

Download or read book An English Murder written by Cyril Hare and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2023-07-03 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A group of guests gather in a large country house, owned by the dying Lord Warbeck, who wants what is left of his family around him to celebrate what he assumes will be his last Christmas. The guests are a motley bunch, including Sir Julius Warbeck, Chancellor of the Exchequer, the wife of one of his underlings, the fascist son of the present Lord Warbeck, and the Chancellor's bodyguard. Also present is foreign historian Dr Bottwink, and the traditional faithful butler. When the first murder occurs, the house is cut off from the rest of the world by a heavy snowfall, and it is left to Sir Julius's bodyguard to initiate a preliminary investigation before contact can be made with the local police force.

Book Lila s Haunted House Party

Download or read book Lila s Haunted House Party written by Molly Mia Stewart and published by Sweet Valley. This book was released on 1991 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is it true that a ghost haunts Hathway Manor? Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield are ready for spine-tingling chills when they go to Lila Fowler's big Halloween party at the spooky mansion. A Bantam Skylark book.

Book Do Not Ask What Good We Do

Download or read book Do Not Ask What Good We Do written by Robert Draper and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-04-24 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a close examination of the final two years of the Bush Presidency in a revealing and riveting look at the new House of Representatives, elected in the history-making 2010 midterm elections.

Book Society in the Country House

Download or read book Society in the Country House written by Thomas Hay Sweet Escott and published by London : T.F. Unwin. This book was released on 1907 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Narrates the social characteristics of the public figures and their interesting houses in several villages in England especially in Southern regions such as Sussex, Penshurst, Wilton, Longleat, Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon, Hampshire, Avon Thames, Osterley, Ascot, Chilterns, and Cheviots.

Book Murder at the Manor

    Book Details:
  • Author : Martin Edwards
  • Publisher : Sourcebooks, Inc.
  • Release : 2016-02-02
  • ISBN : 1464205744
  • Pages : 340 pages

Download or read book Murder at the Manor written by Martin Edwards and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2016-02-02 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder "[T]he entire book is filled with country-house-mystery wonders: the closed-circle puzzle, the dying-message clue, and the sociopathic guest who invades the weekend house party." —Booklist The English country house is an iconic setting for some of the greatest British crime fiction. This new collection gathers together stories written over a span of about 65 years, during which British society, and life in country houses, was transformed out of all recognition. It includes fascinating and unfamiliar twists on the classic 'closed circle' plot, in which the assorted guests at a country house party become suspects when a crime is committed. In the more sinister tales featured here, a gloomy mansion set in lonely grounds offers an eerie backdrop for dark deeds. Many distinguished writers are represented in this collection, including such great names of the genre as Anthony Berkeley, Nicholas Blake and G.K. Chesterton. Martin Edwards has also unearthed hidden gems and forgotten masterpieces: among them are a fine send-up of the country house murder; a suspenseful tale by the unaccountably neglected Ethel Lina White; and a story by the little-known Scottish writer J.J. Bell.

Book An Honorable Gentleman

    Book Details:
  • Author : Regina Scott
  • Publisher : Steeple Hill
  • Release : 2011-11
  • ISBN : 0373828934
  • Pages : 284 pages

Download or read book An Honorable Gentleman written by Regina Scott and published by Steeple Hill. This book was released on 2011-11 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Inspirational historical romance"--Spine.