The Mitford Sisters

Short History Of...

Noiser

History

4.8 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 August 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Rarely out of the papers during their lifetimes, and still figures of fascination in modern media, the six Mitford sisters have become notorious. From a shared, if eccentric childhood, the sisters grew into very different women. As adults, they inhabited diverse worlds, from the literary to the agricultural, and rubbed shoulders with both the aristocratic leaders of English society and Europe's fascist elite. But how did one family produce such a disparate group of women? What role did they play in the political and cultural life of interwar Britain? And why do they continue to fascinate us? This is a Short History Of The Mitford Sisters. A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Mary Lovell, bestselling author of The Mitford Girls: The Biography of an Extraordinary Family. Written by Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow | Produced by Kate Simants | Assistant Producer: Nicole Edmunds | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Dorry Macaulay, Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact check by Sean Coleman Get every episode of Short History Of… a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:29.9	It is a cool spring day in April 1925.
0:34.4	In Astell Manor, an imposing Jacoian house in the south of England, a young man named
0:42.2	Robert Byron stands before a mirror, carefully smoothing down his unruly hair.
0:49.7	Satisfied with the result, he opened the bedroom door and hurries downstairs, the violet scent of his luxurious hair cream wafting after him.
1:00.2	As he nears the drawing room, snatches of conversation drift out into the corridor, overlaid with the sound of a jazz record playing on the gramophone.
1:09.9	Stepping into the room, he is greeted by a hail of voices.
1:14.6	Several of his closest friends from Oxford University lounge on the chairs and
1:18.3	sofas dotted around. Like him, they're dressed in brightly patterned fair-ile jumpers
1:23.7	and clashing silk ties, a far cry from the stuffy suits favoured by their parents.
1:30.3	Olding court in their midst is Nancy Mitford, to whose family this house belongs.
1:36.3	A young woman with striking green eyes, her dark hair is cropped fashionably short,
	...

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