A-Z of Speakers 2021 – biographies
The Mitford Sisters, Chiswick and The Pursuit of Love
6pm for 7pm, The Garden Pavilion, Chiswick House & Gardens
The 13th Chiswick Book Festival opened with a special evening in the Garden Pavilion at Chiswick House & Gardens, exploring the life and work of Nancy Mitford and her sisters. It included an interview with Emily Mortimer, the writer and director of the BBC serialisation of The Pursuit of Love, recorded from her home in New York. Photo (c) Peter Ash Lee.
The panel session was chaired by Jane Thynne (Widowland) and included Jessica Fellowes (The Mitford Trial), author of the Mitford Murders series, and Bridget Osborne, editor of The Chiswick Calendar, who explored the Chiswick connections of Nancy Mitford and her sisters (below).
1. Nancy Mitford lived at Strand on the Green in the 1930s, where she wrote Wigs on The Green, which caused a rift with her sisters Diana and Unity. The Pursuit of Love was published in 1945.
Read Nancy Mitford, 20th century novelist who lived at Strand on the Green, The Chiswick Calendar. Images above: Rose Cottage, Strand on the Green, photograph Joanna Raikes; Nancy Mitford by Bassano Ltd, October 1932, courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery
2. Scroll down for our Chiswick’s Writers Walk from Strand on the Green to Grove Park, on September 12th and 18th.
3. Nancy’s youngest sister Deborah married the Duke of Devonshire, whose family had owned Chiswick House. “It never disappoints or fails to inspire” she wrote in her book, Counting My Chickens.
The Duke and Duchess lived at the family seat, Chatsworth House, and when some of the furniture was auctioned, two armchairs found their way back to Chiswick House. Dr Esme Whittaker, English Heritage: “On 2 March, English Heritage acquired at auction a pair of George III painted beech armchairs, with cane backs and seats, for the collection at Chiswick House. The chairs were part of the furnishings and objects that accompanied Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire (1920–2014) when she moved from Chatsworth to her last home, The Old Vicarage at Edensor on the Chatsworth estate.” See: Furniture History Society Newsletter, May 2016.
The Festival evening was sponsored by
The Arts Society Chiswick.
You can still catch up with the series here on BBC iPlayer (images below).
Exhibition: Chiswick’s Writers Trail
The Chiswick connections of the Mitford Sisters
Chiswick may be the UK’s most literary location
Why no blue plaque for Anthony Burgess?
Sponsored by Bown Design & Build
WRITERS WALK
2.30-4.30pm: Sunday September 12th
Chiswick’s Writers Walk 2: Strand-on-the-Green to Grove Park
Chiswick’s picturesque riverside has been home to political journalists, thriller writers, playwrights, humourists, poets and classic novelists. As you wander along the Thames with your Ealing & West London Guide you’ll encounter the likes of Nancy Mitford, Geoffrey Household, Margaret Kennedy, Robert Bolt and John Osborne.
The 2-hour walk begins outside the Strand Café, Strand-on-the-Green (Kew Bridge end) and ends by Chiswick mainline station. Booking via Eventbrite.
Exhibition: Chiswick’s Writers Trail
The Chiswick connections of the Mitford Sisters
Chiswick may be the UK’s most literary location
Why no blue plaque for Anthony Burgess?
Sponsored by Bown Design & Build