please empty your brain below
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Vintage post - ta muchly.
I enjoyed the whole article but also like the nuggets you drop in like "labelled with the word 'Easter', not that the ignorant will have noticed".
Tunnel Bore | 13.04.17 - 7:10 a.m. | #
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The spy scandal that you mention introduced a new word into the language.
Profume (v) - to lie, or to lie with.
RayL | 13.04.17 - 7:20 a.m. | #
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Beautiful photos, Cliveden now on our bucket list.
Sara | 13.04.17 - 7:33 a.m. | #
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Nice springtime photographs.
I last went there in 1954, just to the area, not into the house, and remember the views from the top. It was a very early car trip in a neighbours new car, possible my first car outing which is why I remember it.
You picked a nice sunny day which obviously brought out a lot of visitors, as in your 12 photos all except one have people in them, which you stated a few days ago you try not to take. I like the lovely blue sky in the photographs.
John | 13.04.17 - 8:00 a.m. | #
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Did the Astors sell up in reflected shame? They gave Cliveden to the National Trust in 1942, with a large endowment, on condition that they could stay in residence (perhaps because it was becoming too expensive for them to keep themselves, and because it was not so important as a home any longer). They kept the house for five years after the scandal broke, and gave it up in 1968, after the third Viscount Astor died in 1966. What did they sell?
dg writes: rewritten, thanks.
Andrew | 13.04.17 - 8:25 a.m. | #
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Excellent post. Great pics, not much chance of a '1' that day though I guess.
Kevin | 13.04.17 - 8:32 a.m. | #
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What a wonderful building and grounds, I really must try to visit one day.
I remember the scandal, mostly because our neighbours at the time, were minor Tory councillors.
Michael | 13.04.17 - 9:02 a.m. | #
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Pedantic comment here: I don't think the Profumo scandal can be described as 'bringing down' the government. The Tory government ran its full five year course between 1959 and 1964 under Prime Ministers Macmillan and Douglas Home. However, the scandal certainly eroded respect and support for the Tories, and contributed to their final defeat by Labour under Harold Wilson in October 1964. He still only achieved a very small majority of just four seats.
dg writes: rewritten, thanks.
Charles | 13.04.17 - 9:29 a.m. | #
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@Charles, but it helped to bring down Macmillan, who claimed he needed an operation, but nevertheless lived another 22 years. And the Tories' then process of letting leaders emerge through a process of consultation led by the party grandees showed how out of touch with democracy -- even internal party democracy -- it was, with Viscount Home [pronounced 'hume'] taking over as the last member of the House of Lords to be PM.
He renounced his peerage and stood for a safe seat so he could be a member of the House of Commons (thereby being for a few weeks the only PM to be a member of no house of Parliament).
Yes, Labour got a majority of only four in the 1964 election, but Wilson got a majority of 98 in the 1966 election, just 17 months later.
Alan Burkitt-Gray | 13.04.17 - 10:11 a.m. | #
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I've always vaguely wondered about going there and this has firmed that right up.
I had no idea of the extent of the place! I always imagined it to be a sort of large eight bedroomed house, nothing like the pile it is!
Many thanks.
Chris | 13.04.17 - 10:47 a.m. | #
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thanks DG ... I've got my NT membership (thanks to my son) so I'd better get on and use it
Caz | 13.04.17 - 11:31 a.m. | #
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The affair happened in 1961, but the scandal did not become public until early 1963. Macmillan initially soldiered on despite his ill-health "I was determined that no British government should be brought down by the action of two tarts."
The government was losing popularity by then anyway because of policies including a wage freeze, and lost a number of byelections in 1961/62. Macmillan's government narrowly survived a no-confidence vote over the Profumo affair. Poor health gave him a way out and he stood down in October 1963, although following an operation he lived another 23 years.
timbo | 13.04.17 - 11:40 a.m. | #
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If anyone would like to learn more about the Profumo scandal, today's post contains a link to a very good Wikipedia page on the subject. It's got a star and everything, and is much better at summarising 1960s politics than seventy words in a blogpost about a stately home.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 13.04.17 - 12:36 p.m. | #
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Andrew Lloyd Webber composed a musical based on the Profumo affair called "Stephen Ward". Opened in London December 2013 and only ran for a few months, a flop and probably mainly forgotten already.
John | 13.04.17 - 12:54 p.m. | #
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Alan Burkitt-Gray, 10.11 above: Another pedantic point -- you have downgraded the 14th Earl of Home to a mere Viscount.
Another point about Home's succession to the Prime Ministership is that it wouldn't have been possible for him to renounce his peerage if Viscount Stansgate (or Anthony Wedgwood Benn as he then styled himself) hadn't earlier campaigned to do the same. This resulted in the Peerage Act being passed in July 1963, which gave all peers the right to do so within a year.
As you say, the 1964 General Election may have been a close-run thing for Labour, but Wilson went on to get a substantial majority in 1966, the biggest he ever achieved in his four victories.
I agree with DG: the Wikipedia account of the Profumo affair is very good.
DG may want to start colour-coding these comments.
Charles | 13.04.17 - 12:57 p.m. | #
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It's a pity that you can't normally visit the house itself. Clearly leasing it for use as a hotel brings the National Turst some handy income but it doesn't really squre (imo) with the role of the National Trust in preserving historic properties for the nation. It may be preserved in some form but 99% of people can't experience or enjoy it.
Let's hope that no nrightspark in the turst thinks it would bge a great idea to start leasing out all of their properties...
Red Cardinal | 13.04.17 - 1:15 p.m. | #
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Cliveden looks fantastic in those photos and I would love to visit so it's a shame that there is no bus to the house for those of us who can't manage the walk from the station; on the other hand the hotel does apparently provide somewhere for you to land your helicopter!
whiff | 13.04.17 - 4:55 p.m. | #
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Like DG I too had to make a special effort to pay for my entry. I walked from Taplow station - had to stick to roads for most of the first bit but then had a nice walk through the Park to finish. I then had to find the pay kiosk later.
Stephen | 14.04.17 - 9:11 a.m. | #
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Well worth a visit, but there is very little shade and it can get very hot in high summer. The heat does help ripen fruit on the mulberry tree. Very tasty, if you don't mind funny looks from people who don't know what they are.
RosemaryT | 14.04.17 - 11:38 a.m. | #
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