0:00:50 > 0:00:56I don't think they were very innocent, really honestly. And some of them certainly were not.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03NSIT, Not Safe In Taxis.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07In other words, don't be left alone with him, whatever you do.
0:01:07 > 0:01:13MTF - Must Touch Flesh. That was one of the dirty old creeps that pinched your bottom.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18There was that magic bit between the top of your stockings and the bottom of your...
0:01:18 > 0:01:24Your knickers had strong elastic, you know. Well, they did, you'll have to believe me!
0:01:24 > 0:01:29And there was something like two inches of bare, bare skin.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32And that's the most wicked thing.
0:01:32 > 0:01:38I was so ignorant, that I would sit bolt upright on the edge of my seat in case somebody kissed me.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43Because I thought if he kissed me, I might have a baby. I was 17!
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Think of nowadays!
0:01:47 > 0:01:50I think romance has gone out of the window.
0:01:50 > 0:01:55- It's "Your place or mine?" now. - Yes, it doesn't exist any more.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58The annual Debutante Season
0:01:58 > 0:02:04was designed to introduce the new crop of society girls into the upper class marriage market.
0:02:04 > 0:02:10In 1939, with war approaching, the season carried on as usual.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15One of the highlights was Queen Charlotte's Ball.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18It was a joke. It really was a joke.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21Curtsying to a cake!
0:02:21 > 0:02:24But it was one of those things that,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27as the Americans would say, you ticked off.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30You did it unquestioningly.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39Elizabeth Northumberland, Sarah Churchill,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42Bridget Elliot and I, were banned
0:02:42 > 0:02:46because they thought... we thought it was slightly funny.
0:02:46 > 0:02:51We had to wear hearts round our necks. We thought we looked ridiculous.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55We were considered to be a disruptive influence.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59- I- think she's probably right, yes!
0:03:00 > 0:03:03I think she IS probably right.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07I teased Elizabeth Northumberland much later on
0:03:07 > 0:03:14when she became the person who cut the cake for the Queen Charlotte's Ball. I thought, "What a change!"
0:03:14 > 0:03:17I was Queen Charlotte.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22Other people had to come and curtsy to me. That was quite funny!
0:03:22 > 0:03:26There she was in her tiara being very correct!
0:03:30 > 0:03:33Each deb had her own coming out dance.
0:03:33 > 0:03:39There was often more than one in the same evening. Some of them small, some, like the Holland House Ball,
0:03:39 > 0:03:41rather grander.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45My cousin, Lord Ilchester, lived in it.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50And his granddaughter, Mab Fox-Strangways,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53was one of my early girlfriends.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58And I used to go to picnics there as a little boy...
0:03:58 > 0:04:03and in Holland Park, which was the garden, for God's sake!
0:04:05 > 0:04:12Quite a large garden! It was all in private hands. And I think they had a pheasant shoot there, too.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30Lord Ilchester had a high contralto voice -
0:04:30 > 0:04:33"Hello, Martin, how are you this evening?"
0:04:33 > 0:04:37And his wife, who was my cousin Birdie,
0:04:37 > 0:04:41had a bass, a double bass voice, "Hello, Martyn!"
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Occasionally got them mixed up, of course.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49But they were old-style aristocrats.
0:04:49 > 0:04:56Lord Ilchester had lent his house for the coming out ball of Rosalind Cubit,
0:04:56 > 0:05:02the mother of Camilla Parker-Bowles, and the granddaughter of Edward VII's mistress, Mrs Keppel.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08Unusually for a deb's dance, the royal family was there in full force.
0:05:08 > 0:05:14It was a bit awkward, cos if the Queen came into the room, you all had to stand up
0:05:14 > 0:05:18when you were sitting out with some delicious young man.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23However, she was sweet and said we could sit down again.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25But you couldn't leave the room...
0:05:27 > 0:05:31I remember the horror of that ball, my first dance...
0:05:31 > 0:05:37people queuing... I couldn't find the hostess to say how do you do.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41My father danced me round the room once, I was then lost.
0:05:41 > 0:05:48And I couldn't see a soul I knew and just found my parents and I said, "I just must go home!"
0:05:48 > 0:05:50"I can't bear it, I don't know anybody!
0:05:50 > 0:05:53"I can't see anybody! It's horrid, it's a squash!"
0:05:55 > 0:06:01Anyway, after that, one went to friends' houses and there were lovely balls and the summer flew by.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06I suppose a lot of people were aware that it could be the last.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12Holland House was an early casualty of the Blitz.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17One wing was saved and is now a youth hostel. The 500-acre estate
0:06:17 > 0:06:23has become the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's largest public park.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27# And as long as my heart will beat
0:06:28 > 0:06:32# Lover, we'll always meet
0:06:32 > 0:06:36# Here in my deep
0:06:36 > 0:06:40# Purple dream! #
0:06:40 > 0:06:43I think the really beautiful dances
0:06:43 > 0:06:48were ones that took place in the country. They were the nicest of all.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54We went to a very good one at a place called Dutton Homesall.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58It was splendid. There was a suit of armour in the hall
0:06:58 > 0:07:03which had a radio inside, which we thought was very dashing!
0:07:05 > 0:07:08I had never seen that before!
0:07:08 > 0:07:13It was the first time I'd seen someone fully-clothed dive into a swimming pool.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18I thought that was... We thought we were seeing life!
0:07:18 > 0:07:22# The sun is sinking low behind the hill
0:07:22 > 0:07:25# I loved you long ago
0:07:25 > 0:07:28# I love you still. #
0:07:29 > 0:07:32You'd walk round these lovely gardens...
0:07:32 > 0:07:36with nightingales singing and roses growing...
0:07:36 > 0:07:40and the music of the dancing in the background.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45And especially if you were wildly in love, it was just...
0:07:45 > 0:07:48I can't think of anything more romantic.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51I wouldn't want anything more romantic.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53I found them rather boring, really.
0:07:53 > 0:07:59Lots of rather dim young men, or stupid young men, I thought.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03Or perhaps it really was that I was rather serious and not much fun.
0:08:07 > 0:08:13Debutantes were stamped as having officially come out into British society
0:08:13 > 0:08:16by a formal presentation at court.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21They had to sit in their cars waiting in The Mall,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24while the hoi polloi would come and look at them.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34They would peer in and make frightfully rude remarks at you.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38"That one's not so good..." This sort of thing.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43In 1939, five sessions were needed to process 1,000 debs.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48You had to wear Prince of Wales ostrich feathers in your hair,
0:08:48 > 0:08:52and curtsy to the king and queen in turn.
0:08:52 > 0:08:57There was always this problem with keeping your feathers in your head.
0:08:57 > 0:09:03I've got rather bad hair. So it's rather difficult getting them all skewered in!
0:09:03 > 0:09:07Looked slightly like circus horses, looking back!
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Curtsying to the king and queen.
0:09:15 > 0:09:21I couldn't do it now. I'd like to show you, but not since my hip replacement!
0:09:21 > 0:09:25I'm tempted to try and say I can still do it, but no!
0:09:25 > 0:09:28I could show you!
0:09:29 > 0:09:32I remember we used to stand like that.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36One foot in front, the other behind, and down you went.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44I was glad I'd done it. I enjoyed that.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47It was fun going to Buckingham Palace.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49And...eh...
0:09:51 > 0:09:55It was an archaic idea, really, wasn't it?!
0:10:07 > 0:10:11I remember something which was called The Poor.
0:10:11 > 0:10:17The poor came down and a huge tent was put up for them, and they came from Bermondsey.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22My mother obviously thought she was doing the right thing.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27These poor women came down and were given strawberries and cream...
0:10:27 > 0:10:32in this lovely garden... It was a very beautiful garden. And it was The Poor.
0:10:32 > 0:10:38I suppose we were in a sort of no-man's-land. We considered ourselves poor,
0:10:38 > 0:10:42because our relations were much better off.
0:10:42 > 0:10:48But when we saw, outside our house in Cambridge Square, barefooted children
0:10:48 > 0:10:51and scantily-clad children...
0:10:51 > 0:10:54I minded dreadfully.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58I realised then that...eh... we weren't...
0:10:58 > 0:11:01We weren't poor at all.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07After the War, I worked in an orphanage, and that meant a lot to me.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10It sort of wiped out at a single stroke
0:11:10 > 0:11:14all the things sitting heavily on my conscience.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Of course we were well off.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22There were four servants in the house, as we called them.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25And...eh...we wanted for nothing.
0:11:31 > 0:11:38All the people that looked after you, they were... they were much more like friends.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42The nursery maid who became my children's nanny...
0:11:42 > 0:11:47she actually died in this flat when she was 86.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50She used to go and visit her relations.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55I think she really felt more at home in the end, with us,
0:11:55 > 0:11:59because she'd spent the whole of her life with us really, you know.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04She was a policeman's daughter from Staffordshire
0:12:04 > 0:12:07and all her relations were miners.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14When my husband first put up for Parliament, he put up against Mr Shrimble.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19He had a very big majority against him, 38,000.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23And he didn't know a lot about the coalmines.
0:12:23 > 0:12:30So he was sent off to one of Nanny's uncles, who gave him a quick week on how mines worked!
0:12:30 > 0:12:36Then, when he went down them, they actually thought he knew a great deal about it.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40It was very well organised by Mr Gibbs.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Some debs refused to co-operate with the system.
0:12:44 > 0:12:51Unity, the fourth of the six Mitford Sisters, found the deb circuit deadly.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56Her sister, Jessica, described how she let her pet rat loose at dances
0:12:56 > 0:13:00and wrote letters on paper she'd stolen from Buckingham Palace.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05Unity soon found spiritual fulfilment in the arms of the Nazi Party.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08The Party gave her a flat in Munich.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12But when I met Unity...
0:13:13 > 0:13:18I'd been at school there doing music and German -
0:13:18 > 0:13:21finishing schools, really...
0:13:21 > 0:13:24I just loved it there, just as Unity did.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30We were Nazis to a T, the whole lot of us, and I'm not ashamed of it.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34It was great, great life...
0:13:34 > 0:13:35German.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38And it was um, Hedy Vine...
0:13:39 > 0:13:42She was kind enough to produce a...
0:13:43 > 0:13:46..an escort for me.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Well, I mean a member of the SS.
0:13:51 > 0:13:57She had one and I had one too, and we went partying together.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00What the girls would call clubbing now.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03That was the sort of thing we did...
0:14:03 > 0:14:04sometimes.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12I was quite unashamed then.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14Quite unashamed.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19You see, for a year, I was right out of it.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Back in England, it was quite, quite different.
0:14:22 > 0:14:28I really hadn't realised what was going on and what had been going on. I had no idea.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31I always defend Unity about one thing,
0:14:31 > 0:14:37which is, I know that she definitely told Hitler that if there was a war,
0:14:37 > 0:14:40that the British would fight,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43when people were saying they wouldn't.
0:14:43 > 0:14:49She also said she'd shoot herself if there was a war, and she did. Only she missed.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52'Though reported to be wounded,
0:14:52 > 0:14:58'Miss Mitford got home safely, Hitler having placed no obstacle in the way of her return.
0:14:58 > 0:15:05'Her parents saw her safely in and accompanied her to their home at High Wycombe.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09'Here, her sister, Deborah, was waiting.'
0:15:09 > 0:15:13I've never been embarrassed by my sisters at all.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16They all had their own lives,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20and I suppose I was entirely taken up with mine.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25I've always been terribly fond of them. Never had any differences with them.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30I think people took people as they found them
0:15:30 > 0:15:33and there was room for a bit of eccentricity.
0:15:33 > 0:15:40Now everybody seems to be like peas in a pod, they've all got to be exactly alike.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43- What do you think?- Yes. Yes.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47My friends weren't the least bit interested in politics.
0:15:47 > 0:15:53They knew there would be a war and they'd go to the war and everything,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56but that was nothing to do with daily life.
0:15:56 > 0:16:01- Mine was very different.- Yours...- My father was in the House Of Commons
0:16:01 > 0:16:05and we were tremendously politically-minded.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10One wasn't really aware
0:16:10 > 0:16:15of the undercurrents that were going on, I think, most of the time.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18I was taken by my parents to Italy
0:16:18 > 0:16:23and learnt quite a bit of Italian and saw wonderful pictures.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30In Italy one saw Hitler and Mussolini meet.
0:16:30 > 0:16:36And they were two unattractive little stout, square men,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39striding towards each other!
0:16:41 > 0:16:43They just looked like joke people.
0:16:46 > 0:16:52In March, 1939, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, violating the pact he'd made
0:16:52 > 0:16:58the previous year in Munich. Neville Chamberlain's Policy of Appeasement had failed.
0:16:58 > 0:17:03Munich was really in many ways more important than the outbreak of War.
0:17:03 > 0:17:08Without the shame of Munich - and it was a shameful episode,
0:17:08 > 0:17:15I don't think this country would have gone to war again so soon after the slaughter of 1914-18.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20Munich was like taking the safety-catch off a sporting gun.
0:17:32 > 0:17:39- We were all aware, any thinking person knew, a war was inevitable... - ..By 1939. Because I really do think
0:17:39 > 0:17:43it was a kind of frenzy. You absolutely knew
0:17:43 > 0:17:46it was the end of life as you knew it.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51- "So, tomorrow, who cares?" it was a question of, don't you think?- Yes.
0:17:51 > 0:17:57But I suppose people are always wild when they're young. Awfully depressing if they weren't.
0:17:57 > 0:18:03I found a letter from my mother to one of my sisters, saying, "Two boys are going
0:18:03 > 0:18:10"to the cottage at Swimbrook - Andrew Cavendish and a friend. I hope they won't break it up"!
0:18:10 > 0:18:12Dear Andrew.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15I can't say he wasn't wild.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20He was always...unwashed.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24He and the Cecils were related.
0:18:24 > 0:18:29And the Cecils... were always covered in ink...
0:18:31 > 0:18:36..and marmalade and stuff, and didn't give a damn what they wore.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39And Andrew was a little bit like that.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42He smartened up as he got older!
0:18:44 > 0:18:48Oh, he was lovely! Great friend.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53Martyn and I's life has gone very much in tandem.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57We had the same governess when we were seven and eight.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00We had the same private school.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04Same house at Eton. Same college at Cambridge.
0:19:04 > 0:19:10And until the Coldstream debacle, we would have had the same regiment!
0:19:10 > 0:19:12There was a ball going on in London,
0:19:12 > 0:19:18which curiously enough was my future wife's coming out ball.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22And funnily enough, I sat next to her at dinner.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27And then I had to set off at 3am to the Coldstream Guards Battalion,
0:19:27 > 0:19:31which were having an exercise near Southampton.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36And I was driving with a friend of mine called Howard, reading the map.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40And he lost the way, silly arse!
0:19:40 > 0:19:44And so we arrived 10 minutes late,
0:19:44 > 0:19:46with the whole battalion
0:19:46 > 0:19:51out there surrounding the Commanding Officer,
0:19:51 > 0:19:55who was reading out the notes on the exercise.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59And this little sports car rolls up in a cloud of dust
0:19:59 > 0:20:05and two dishevelled officers get out 10 minutes late.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10And, of course, it was one of the most awful moments of my life,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13walking up this little hill, saluting,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16and knowing that I'd had it!
0:20:16 > 0:20:19And indeed I had.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22I got a letter from the King, George VI,
0:20:22 > 0:20:28saying, "You will resign your Commission from my Coldstream Guards."
0:20:28 > 0:20:31So that was that!
0:20:31 > 0:20:36In the end, I had a go at the Welsh Guards,
0:20:36 > 0:20:38Great fun.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57I was burning the candle at both ends. Lord, yes.
0:20:58 > 0:21:04I'd been to a party the night before and got back to Windsor rather late.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Very late.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10And just had time to change into uniform
0:21:10 > 0:21:14and go and supervise the recruits' physical training.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17And my future brother-in-law was there.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22And I remember I sat on one of those horses you have in a gym...
0:21:22 > 0:21:24and practically went to sleep.
0:21:24 > 0:21:31He came up and he said, "For God's sake, wake up and get the lipstick off your face!"
0:21:31 > 0:21:36But, you know, quite hard work it was, but I was young then!
0:21:36 > 0:21:39There were a tremendous number of parties.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43There was a dance called The Big Apple.
0:21:43 > 0:21:49- The Big Apple.- The Big Apple was certainly one.- God knows how it went. I can't remember now.
0:21:49 > 0:21:55- You danced like this, didn't you? - I think it was one of the first ones when you danced alone.- Yes.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00- Usual nowadays.- It was very unusual then.- People clung together.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04'The Big Apple is a round square dance.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06'It consists of trucking...
0:22:06 > 0:22:09'Suzy Q, Charleston and shake.'
0:22:10 > 0:22:15In those days, you called them, young men in those days, chaps.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19You tried to stir them up and get them going.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24Some were very monosyllabic and you got rather bored.
0:22:24 > 0:22:30"What have you been reading?" you'd say. And then you'd get a grunt!
0:22:30 > 0:22:33So nobody seemed to help themselves very much!
0:22:33 > 0:22:38The Alphabet Game, do you know about that? That was rather amusing.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41You started with apples,
0:22:41 > 0:22:46and then if that didn't answer, you went on to, I don't know, bramble jelly...
0:22:46 > 0:22:49and then you went to C, cats.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51I once got to R with somebody.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54I thought, "This is desperate."
0:22:54 > 0:23:00I saw the end of the alphabet coming... and then what? Z was a bad one.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05And then I found out that what he was interested in was Roman London.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07I was, what, 19 at the time.
0:23:07 > 0:23:13This was the beginning of the War. I still get postcards, and he's 90 now!
0:23:13 > 0:23:16# In my heart
0:23:16 > 0:23:21# A glowing ember will remain
0:23:21 > 0:23:27# As I sigh at summer's end. #
0:23:27 > 0:23:33I found that I was too nervous to eat the delicious meals that were served.
0:23:33 > 0:23:39Some people could guzzle them down, with better nerves than me. But at the time...
0:23:39 > 0:23:43I hadn't made friends with the whisky bottle,
0:23:43 > 0:23:48which, in my old age, I find an ally which never lets me down.
0:23:48 > 0:23:54I had to wait a long time for that happy relationship!
0:23:54 > 0:23:57A touch of transcontinental allure
0:23:57 > 0:24:00was added to the English season
0:24:00 > 0:24:05by Joe Kennedy, the American Ambassador, and his family.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09- They were wonderful. - They were very much centre stage.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13They lived round the corner from us in Princess Gate.
0:24:13 > 0:24:18- Kik, who married Andrew's brother, and us, were great, great friends. - Great friends.
0:24:18 > 0:24:24Kathleen "Kik" Kennedy met the Duke of Devonshire's eldest son, Billy, at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party.
0:24:24 > 0:24:29When they married, she was set to become the next Duchess of Devonshire.
0:24:29 > 0:24:35But four months later, Billy was killed in action on the Belgian border.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Kik herself died in a plane crash after the War.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43And then these two immensely handsome boys...
0:24:43 > 0:24:49- Joe was heroically killed flying his regimental aircraft... - Incredibly good-looking.
0:24:49 > 0:24:55..And Jack who became President. My mother-in-law made this extraordinary remark.
0:24:55 > 0:25:01She saw him at a dance and said, "That young man might well be President of the United States."
0:25:01 > 0:25:04It was queer, wasn't it?
0:25:04 > 0:25:10They were so nice-looking, and so jolly and so friendly. Not like stuck-up English people!
0:25:10 > 0:25:14- Everybody loved them, didn't they? - Everybody.
0:25:14 > 0:25:20- Especially Kik. She had more go about her than anybody, don't you think?- Vitality.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24Than anybody I've ever met probably, except Jack.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28- Ali Khan was a bit older, wasn't he?- Who?- Ali Khan.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31But he wasn't President of America!
0:25:31 > 0:25:35- But he became a great feature later on.- He was quite a feature.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39- Who was he married to, Joan? - Joan, at the time.
0:25:39 > 0:25:45And then he married beautiful Rita Hayworth. The most beautiful woman I've ever seen.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50She had charisma. But I suppose Jack, of all the people we've ever known, had the most.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53- And Sir Winston.- Winston?- Yes.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57- Charisma?- Yes.- Do you think? - Oh, certainly, yes.- Oh!
0:25:57 > 0:26:00- Lester Piggott.- Oh, no.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04- He's got charisma.- No, he hasn't! - He has!- No!- He does have!
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Uncle Harold, in a sort of way, did.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12- He had style, not quite the same as charisma.- That's right.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16- He certainly had style. - He was beautiful to look at.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19And Elvis, of course. I never met him.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24- Your hero.- Yes.- Don't you think it's better not to have met him?
0:26:24 > 0:26:27That's what I wonder, is it better, perhaps?
0:26:35 > 0:26:40We used to divide people always, you know, that dance with you.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44There were good dancers and moderate dancers.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48I was amused by how different the way people danced were.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Some handed you round like a plate.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54And other ones danced, sort of, very jiggy,
0:26:54 > 0:27:00and you never knew whether to jig too, or try and, what I call, clamp them to the floor.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05My brother-in-law once told me that he counted 17 shoulder straps
0:27:05 > 0:27:08on a girl he was made to dance with.
0:27:08 > 0:27:14I couldn't think why it was an odd number, because you'd think it wouldn't be an odd number.
0:27:14 > 0:27:20But he said there was 17! I don't know what she was wearing underneath that dress!
0:27:20 > 0:27:26Nowadays they don't bother to have shoulder straps, do they? They just have shoulders.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30Men wore white gloves, I'm glad to say.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33It was very nice that they wore gloves.
0:27:33 > 0:27:40Because then your dress didn't get stained behind with the sweat from the hand.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47I reckoned that I was quite a good waltzer.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51I used to enjoy waltzing.
0:27:51 > 0:27:58I rather fancied myself, I must admit. But I think people were much better at it than they are now.
0:27:58 > 0:28:05I don't see the point of dancing when you stand about 6-foot away from whoever you're dancing with.
0:28:05 > 0:28:12The whole idea was to get a hold of the girl, put your arm round her and dance properly.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16All the chaperones, of course, were sitting around the room,
0:28:16 > 0:28:20you know, eyeing one, watching to see that you behaved yourself.
0:28:20 > 0:28:25They'd raise their lorgnettes, and look and see what you were up to!
0:28:27 > 0:28:31No, no! Took more than that to put me off!
0:28:41 > 0:28:43One had to be chaperoned.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50My mother had to come with me every night to every dance.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54And, of course, she met all her old girlfriends.
0:28:54 > 0:28:59And she would sit on her little gilt chair and gossip.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04Very occasionally, the odd father would turn up.
0:29:04 > 0:29:10And that was absolutely lovely. They were all thrilled - some boyfriend of 50 years ago!
0:29:10 > 0:29:17Well, my mother, I was the sixth daughter, sixth girl, so she'd done it six times when I was growing up.
0:29:17 > 0:29:23And she used to look longingly at her bed which was ready to get into,
0:29:23 > 0:29:30having had a boiled egg or something at 7.30, and had to change into an evening dress and come to the dance.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34But can you imagine doing that night after night?
0:29:34 > 0:29:38And then they used to stay until the girl wanted to go home.
0:29:38 > 0:29:45And sometimes if she was enjoying herself, it was about three in the morning.
0:29:45 > 0:29:52The old dowagers... Actually, they were young! We thought they were as old as God's governess!
0:29:52 > 0:29:58But they were very young. It must have been terribly boring to sit on the bench.
0:29:58 > 0:30:05But they were very good, they did. And we were on pain of death - we were not to go to a nightclub.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08But, of course, I did. That was half the fun!
0:30:08 > 0:30:13Doing something you're not allowed is MUCH better than being a good little girl!
0:30:21 > 0:30:25Oh, terribly risque, terribly dangerous, awfully naughty!
0:30:25 > 0:30:30What one did was one was, one made an assignation with a chap.
0:30:30 > 0:30:36And one went home rigorously, either with one's mother or something.
0:30:36 > 0:30:43If my mother had gone home before me, I had to put my shoes inside her door so she'd know I was home.
0:30:43 > 0:30:50So I would creep upstairs, put my shoes inside her bedroom door, change into something less formal,
0:30:50 > 0:30:56and meanwhile, the chap would be waiting two or three doors down, and one would sneak out quietly!
0:30:56 > 0:31:01There was a taxi parked further down the road. I thought, "Where is HE?"
0:31:01 > 0:31:06Then I saw this lid wobbling and Ian crouching underneath it!
0:31:06 > 0:31:11Luckily, my mother hadn't seen, she was so keen, poor darling, to go to bed!
0:31:16 > 0:31:22One time, my mother left me in Sarah Churchill's mother's hands.
0:31:22 > 0:31:27She was a very fierce character. I slipped away...
0:31:27 > 0:31:32and when I came back... there were these long stairs...
0:31:32 > 0:31:38I think it was Londonderry House... ..long stairs to walk up...and there she was, standing at the top.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41"Elizabeth, where have you been?"
0:31:41 > 0:31:46"I've been to the 400, terribly sorry, please don't tell Mummy!"
0:31:48 > 0:31:53"I won't if you promise not to do it again." "Yes, I promise."
0:31:53 > 0:31:57I don't think promises held out very much!
0:32:00 > 0:32:04Sarah always remained one of my greatest friends.
0:32:04 > 0:32:10She's marvellous fun. She's very, very tall and full of life. Never drew breath.
0:32:10 > 0:32:17And didn't seem to be shy like me so she was a great friend to have. She would do the talking.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21If she was here now, she would do the talking!
0:32:23 > 0:32:28And then, poor woman, she had the most horrible end a year ago.
0:32:28 > 0:32:30They thought she had cancer.
0:32:30 > 0:32:36When they operated, they cut through the artery and they couldn't stop the bleeding.
0:32:36 > 0:32:41And she died on the operating table. Most awful story. In New York.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43Think of it.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46They cut into an artery
0:32:46 > 0:32:49and they could not stop the bleeding.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56Sarah had this wonderful dance at Blenheim.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00That was just out of this world. It was magic.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04You know, all the friends one has ever met were there.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07That was all great fun.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19This was all, of course, just before the War.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22We had all this...and then the War.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24Finish.
0:33:25 > 0:33:32We were gathered in front of the wireless - I can remember that very vividly.
0:33:32 > 0:33:37And couldn't believe, until Neville Chamberlain actually said...
0:33:38 > 0:33:45war had been declared. One couldn't believe that such a dreadful thing should happen.
0:33:45 > 0:33:50One really thought it would be the end of the world.
0:33:50 > 0:33:56But the one marvellous thing was that nobody ever conceived it possible that we were going to lose.
0:33:56 > 0:34:04- It was quite astonishing how normal life went on.- Yes, astonishing. - We got married on April 19th, 1941,
0:34:04 > 0:34:07height of the Blitz.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10I should be terrified now.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13- But we were young.- It's different. - Quite different.
0:34:13 > 0:34:20It was very exciting. We used to go to nightclubs at that time because he was still in London.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23I was here until November '43,
0:34:23 > 0:34:29then, rather belatedly, I went to Italy where I had an absolutely marvellous time.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34Oh, dear!
0:34:42 > 0:34:47One moment, I was being so lucky and spoilt and drinking champagne,
0:34:47 > 0:34:52and the next I was working in a factory in Cricklewood,
0:34:52 > 0:34:58helping to make a bomber called a Halifax, which had four engines and was very splendid.
0:34:58 > 0:35:04But that was 7.30 in the morning till 6.30 in the evening and it was hard physical labour the whole time.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06It WAS work.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23I found myself very ostracised.
0:35:25 > 0:35:32And one of the girls said to me, in a moment of frankness, "Why do you talk in that silly way?"
0:35:33 > 0:35:38When I explained to her that I wasn't putting it on,
0:35:38 > 0:35:44it just happened to be the way my family talked, after that they were fine.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49It taught me what work really is.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53And that, I feel, is a good thing in one's life.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00I think that the deb period was fairytale.
0:36:00 > 0:36:06It was lovely, it was magical. And I suppose all magical things come to an end, really.
0:36:09 > 0:36:14But the great thing about the factory in Cricklewood where I worked
0:36:14 > 0:36:18was that it had a direct line underground to...
0:36:18 > 0:36:23Is it still called Green Park? That tube station just outside The Ritz?
0:36:23 > 0:36:30We'd rush out of the factory, jump on the underground and half an hour later we'd be in the Ritz Bar!
0:36:30 > 0:36:36And nobody minded that we were still in our terrible old dungaree working clothes.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40I say, speaking of lovely women!
0:36:42 > 0:36:46I was a mechanic. I was given a series of huge books,
0:36:46 > 0:36:49told to go home, read them,
0:36:49 > 0:36:56come back the next day and take charge of the electrical bench.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00I was 18, and had underneath me
0:37:00 > 0:37:06two boys and a girl, aged 15 and 16, who wanted just to send me up rotten.
0:37:06 > 0:37:13So I had to - I HAD to succeed to stop them knowing how little I knew.
0:37:13 > 0:37:20It was in a garage mending jeeps, Chevs, lorries and things that came back from the Front.
0:37:20 > 0:37:27My particular thing was the electrical parts of carburettors, the starting motors.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30It was underground in Shepherd's Market.
0:37:30 > 0:37:37Particularly on the night shift, it was unbelievable stuffy. Really was horrible.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41So these two great friends of mine...
0:37:41 > 0:37:44Vie and Edie they were called,
0:37:44 > 0:37:49used to go out for a stroll, just to sort of get some air into our lungs.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53And the only place to stroll was down Piccadilly,
0:37:53 > 0:37:59which was quite an interesting stroll at one o'clock in the morning sometimes!
0:37:59 > 0:38:04There were the ladies of the night proffering their... whatever they proffer.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08And we got to know them very well, actually.
0:38:08 > 0:38:13We were all very jolly together. It was extraordinary.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17Extraordinary, really.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27I had to wait till...
0:38:27 > 0:38:30March '42...
0:38:30 > 0:38:34to be called up for the Wrens as Wren Scott.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37I did four trips, New York, Boston
0:38:37 > 0:38:40and two to Halifax,
0:38:40 > 0:38:43bringing back about 8,000 troops each time.
0:38:45 > 0:38:50My brother was in the Navy, and on one of these trips
0:38:50 > 0:38:54came signals from my brother's escort group.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57One saying, "Have spotted U-Boat."
0:38:57 > 0:39:00Next one saying, "Am about to fire."
0:39:00 > 0:39:04And a French signal saying, "Have sunk U-Boat."
0:39:04 > 0:39:09I longed to go round saying, # My brother sank a U-Boat! #
0:39:09 > 0:39:14But, of course, because of secrecy, I didn't like to.
0:39:15 > 0:39:22Then one day the Signal Officer came to see me and said "Oh, Scott, we're going to send you to Australia."
0:39:23 > 0:39:25"Australia?!
0:39:25 > 0:39:28"Why Australia? It's far too far away."
0:39:30 > 0:39:33But there it was.
0:39:33 > 0:39:38I loved every minute of it, having thought I'd hate it.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41This is all on top of having been
0:39:41 > 0:39:44a quiet little debutante in 1939!
0:39:48 > 0:39:50So many things opened with war...
0:39:50 > 0:39:55that there was no time to think of an ordinary life.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59So an ordinary life never sort of came my way...
0:39:59 > 0:40:02until I married really.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06'The wedding of the Duke of Northumberland
0:40:06 > 0:40:10'and Lady Elizabeth Montague Douglas Scott
0:40:10 > 0:40:16'was the first big society wedding at the Abbey since the War ended.'
0:40:20 > 0:40:24After the War, things didn't seem to have changed much.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27And being of a somewhat...
0:40:27 > 0:40:32Leftish frame of mind... very slight, may I say...
0:40:32 > 0:40:37we hoped that it would all sort of calm down and be much more...
0:40:38 > 0:40:41..ordinary for everybody, I suppose.
0:40:41 > 0:40:47Surely we couldn't have these awful class distinctions for ever and ever, you know.
0:40:47 > 0:40:54But, no. Before you knew where you were, people were climbing into long dresses again.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56But I didn't...eh...
0:40:56 > 0:41:01fancy that sort of a high-powered life, really.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04Fairly soon after that, I met Jack.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09I came back after the War, very left wing...
0:41:09 > 0:41:13decided to go to Veterinary College.
0:41:13 > 0:41:17And my sister was married to her brother.
0:41:17 > 0:41:22Didn't think her little brother could possibly look after himself in London,
0:41:22 > 0:41:26so she asked her sister-in-law to keep an eye on me, which she did.
0:41:26 > 0:41:32- I didn't think anything very much would... - We weren't interested in each other.
0:41:32 > 0:41:38We both thought we were rather dull and serious people! Then we decided to go...
0:41:38 > 0:41:41for a bicycle ride along a tow path.
0:41:41 > 0:41:46Suddenly we were poring over an ordinance survey map,
0:41:46 > 0:41:51and suddenly, it was as if somebody had hit me over the head.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54I realised there was only one thing in life -
0:41:54 > 0:41:59I couldn't go on without this lovely girl to go through life with me.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02The difficulty was to persuade her!
0:42:04 > 0:42:09And I reckon I proposed under most of the trees in Hyde Park.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12And, eventually...
0:42:12 > 0:42:18just as the snowdrops were breaking through from their sleep, she accepted me.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20And I've lived happily ever after!
0:42:20 > 0:42:24- In a nutshell!- Yes!
0:42:26 > 0:42:32And then, oh, I had various pangs because I couldn't think that
0:42:32 > 0:42:36I could possibly bring a lovely person like this
0:42:36 > 0:42:41into a veterinary assistant's house, one up, one down,
0:42:41 > 0:42:44smelling of tom cat!
0:42:45 > 0:42:51I was much happier marrying someone who was working with real people in the real world.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54And he was much the nicest that I had met.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02Early on in my coming out year,
0:43:02 > 0:43:09I met, I thought, the most wonderful person in the world and fell wildly in love with him.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13And he quite liked me too.
0:43:13 > 0:43:18He was the handsomest man in England, that is without a shadow of a doubt.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21He was very clever and funny.
0:43:23 > 0:43:30And in the old-fashioned meaning of the word, gay, you know, full of jokes and fun.
0:43:31 > 0:43:38And we were all so well brought up then, and so, you know, it was... What a waste of time!
0:43:40 > 0:43:44When the War started, he went off the whole idea!
0:43:46 > 0:43:51Oh, but look. I think I have it on. Let me turn my pearls round.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55Does it have a little blue clasp? Have a look.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58A little...? It does?
0:43:58 > 0:44:04That was my engagement ring to the sailor, and he let me keep it.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08And anyway...he's dead.
0:44:08 > 0:44:15I mean they always say that the one person a woman always remembers is the first person she makes love to.
0:44:15 > 0:44:21I don't think that's necessarily so. I think the first person one LOVES is much more important.
0:44:28 > 0:44:35Priscilla, my wife, when I first saw her, actually, she was at a deb ball and she was whirling around -
0:44:35 > 0:44:38she was a frightfully good waltzer -
0:44:38 > 0:44:45with a man who subsequently became an ambassador, called Sir John Beethe.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47And he often told me when she died,
0:44:47 > 0:44:52he said "I wanted to marry your wife, but you were in the way!"
0:44:52 > 0:44:59Anyway, she was dancing with him, waltzing around in white. I picked her out at once.
0:44:59 > 0:45:06I said to my friend Howard, "Who's that?", and he said, "Oh, she's Priscilla Brett.
0:45:06 > 0:45:14"She comes from a very eccentric family!" And despite our disparate natures and characters,
0:45:14 > 0:45:19we got on like a house on fire for 58 years. A long time.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24And she died...
0:45:25 > 0:45:28..on the 2nd of January, 2000.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32She just got into the millennium.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35And then she died that morning at 2.00am.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38I shall always miss her.
0:45:39 > 0:45:44There has been no-one else like her who...
0:45:44 > 0:45:47She was out on her own.
0:45:47 > 0:45:48Mm-hm.
0:45:50 > 0:45:52And...eh...
0:45:52 > 0:45:55I've survived her a year so far.
0:45:55 > 0:46:00I have quite a social life, actually, with my friends,
0:46:00 > 0:46:03and I'm constantly occupied.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06And I'm very, very lucky.
0:46:08 > 0:46:16Lucky with everything - birth, childhood, army - got through unscathed, and then marriage.
0:46:16 > 0:46:21And architecture, for heaven's sake, we haven't spoken about that.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31Charles died about 10 or 11 years ago now.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34I hate being alone.
0:46:35 > 0:46:40They say, "Grow old gracefully." It's extremely difficult.
0:46:40 > 0:46:45You're deaf as a haddock, you're batty, you forget everything!
0:46:45 > 0:46:48It's, "What did you say?"
0:46:49 > 0:46:54I lost touch with all the people that I'd known in '39 -
0:46:54 > 0:46:59most of them - and picked up only with a few.
0:46:59 > 0:47:05Oh, little Jack Younger, he was one at my dance, looking like a little pink penguin.
0:47:05 > 0:47:10He's one of my oldest friends. We ring each other up at intervals
0:47:10 > 0:47:15and discuss euthanasia and suitable subjects like that!
0:47:17 > 0:47:20"How are you today?" "Bloody awful!"
0:47:22 > 0:47:25It was unique.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29It'll never come again. So it's a lovely memory.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33I think I enjoyed it... I wonder if other people do...
0:47:33 > 0:47:36..more in retrospect than I did at the time.
0:47:36 > 0:47:41It was like living in inverted commas, really.
0:47:41 > 0:47:46So much happened so quickly - coming out, the War, the job...
0:47:46 > 0:47:48getting married...
0:47:48 > 0:47:51It's really lovely in old age...
0:47:51 > 0:47:54having tied up all your loose ends.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58When one's past and one's present sort of...
0:47:58 > 0:48:01sort of merge together...
0:48:01 > 0:48:05it's an enormously happy time. Perhaps the happiest of all.
0:48:05 > 0:48:12# When the deep purple falls
0:48:12 > 0:48:15# Over sleepy garden walls
0:48:15 > 0:48:23# And the stars begin to flicker in the sky
0:48:23 > 0:48:28# Through the mist of a memory
0:48:29 > 0:48:33# You wander back to me
0:48:33 > 0:48:39# Breathing my name with a sigh... #