As we passed Cookham Lock, the river twists and turns and as we looked up towards the steep hill we could see a huge building up the horizon and so we decided to moor the boat and stretch our legs. After walking almost vertically for twenty minutes, we arrived at a flattened grassed area, which consisted of a series of flowerbeds surrounded by small hedges, and these seemed to be guarded by a number of taller evergreens in the shape of pointed turrets but in the background lay a magnificent baroque building. On arriving at a statute, we were greeted by an elderly couple who asked us “Can we help?”It was only then that we realised must have been at some National Trust property and this was confirmed by them both wearing, NT Volunteer badges.
Without being too obvious, the Cabin Boy asked the grannie Dissi , how old she was. ? She must have missed heard and replied “Clive’s 81 and I’m a lot younger”. After a bit of a giggle, she told us a bit about the history of Clivedon. “O Cliveden was built in about 1666 by the 2nd Duke of Buckingham and was originally a hunting lodge where the Duke could entertain his friends but it burnt down. It was then rebuilt, and once again burnt down again, and rebuilt. The First Mate sniggered “They did it for the insurance eh?”Dissi continued,” In about 1850 the Duke of Sutherland built most of the present building you can see here and the large water tower that you can see at the front of the house was added in about 1860”.”Has anyone famous stayed her?” Asked Billy “You name them, they’ve stayed here “answered the old guy who was also called Dissi. “Practically every King and Queen since George I, most British Prime Ministers , American Presidents and some infamous people”. The First Mate’s eyes lit up and jumped in.”Infamous, you mean naughty eh?”.” Well I suppose that you can say that “, “Who then? “. The older male Dissi said “The Astors for example” “. Who are they?” Asked the eager Cabin Boy.”I can answer that one Billy “said the Captain. “You see there was this rich American guy called William Waldorf Astor” ,” Correction” said the granny “The richest American in the world at the time”. “Well he bought it and lived here”.”No” interrupted the granny again.” He bought it for his son Waldorf and daughter-in-law Nancy as a wedding present” “Yes that’s her” continued the Captain” That Nancy Astor or should I say Nazi Astor and her friends were German sympathisers .This group of upper crust, rich and very influential people were called the Clivedon Set, I think” added the Captain “And Nancy was the ring leader of this right wing group. This so called Set was so influential that she became the first woman Member of Parliament in the whole of England “.
The Captain continued” there was some humorous bickering between her and Churchill. On one occasion, unable to resist the temptation to tease her in front of a large group of people he asked her “So, you are once again organising some stupid masquerade ball. What disguise should I wear so that nobody recognizes me?”
"Why don't you come sober, Prime Minister?" – Lady Astor replied sarcastically.
On another occasion, Lady Astor said to Churchill, "If you were my husband, I'd poison your tea," to which he responded, "Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!"
But, probably the most known exchange of such words between them was when Lady Astor said to him "Winston, you are drunk", to which he replied "And you, madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober in the morning".
“Where have I heard that weird name of Waldorf before? “Inquired the Cabin Boy.”Oh I see what you mean “said the female Dissi. “You’re probably thinking about a Waldorf salad that was created at the luxury hotel in New York called the Waldorf –Astoria named after Waldorf and Nancy Astor” “And what did this salad contain then ?“ Asked Billy. “It was a salad that contained apples, celery and walnuts with a bit of lettuce and mayo,” replied Mrs Dissi.
The Cabin Boy asked the old couple “Why they were both called Dissi ?.”Well if you must know my proper name is Clive Disraeli Montague and ever since school days I was nicknamed Dissi and of course when I got married people referred to my wife Cybil as Mrs Dissi. Mrs Dissi completed the story about her name and added “My middle name is Deidre, and so me and Clive also have the same set of name initials. The Captain added sarcastically “Fascinating”.
“Well we still haven’t heard anything infamous yet “said the First Mate.”Well I suppose you’re too young to know about that Tory John Profumo” said Mrs. Dessi. “Well I am a dam sight younger than any of them” piped up the Cabin Boy and I remember my older brother Nick telling me about it years ago”. “Well, tell us about it “demanded the Captain.”Well there was this old boy in the cabinet called Profumo who had a thing for this high class whore called Christine Keeler and he was filmed by this Russian Spy at it in a threesome with this Profumo and some doctor bloke called Ward and yes this doctor always wore dark sunglasses like a film star”.” Well some of what you said was almost true “said Mrs Dessi. “In fact, the scandal concerned John Profumo who was Secretary of State for War at the time and he had an affair with the high class prostitute Christine Keeler who was introduced to him at a party at Clivedon by the osteopath - Stephen Ward. It also happened that Christine Keeler had a boyfriend who was a Russian Naval attaché and possibly a Russian Spy. Profumo denied that he had an intimate relationship with her, and when it was found to be true, he resigned from the government. Stephen Ward was taken to court for living on immoral earnings and just before he was due to be sentenced; he committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills.
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