Antonia Keaney, Social Historian at Blenheim Palace, is a firm Festival favourite, enthralling audiences with her behind-the-scenes knowledge of Blenheim. In this session she chats to author Harriet Cullen, who has recently written a biography of her mother, Lady Pamela Berry. And, yes, there is a Blenheim connection! ‘Lady PB’, as she was sometimes known, was said to be “self-willed, bright and biting” and for nearly half a century was “at the pinnacle of British society”. She always lived close to press and political power. A child of the 1920s, and a glittering It Girl, she was born into one famous self-made family and married into another. Among her many achievements she was seen as a figurehead of British fashion.

Harriet Cullen is a freelance writer and has contributed to History Today, the Daily Telegraph, and the Keats-Shelley Review. She is married to the Argentinian novelist, Martin Cullen, has two writer sons, and lives between Argentina and London. It was during lockdown that Harriet went through an old dog basket and found a wealth of fascinating material about her mother. She realised that the real interest of anybody is in the personal, including the trivial.

Why not join us for lunch at Ecgwin’s Club before the event? Menu will be circulated to attendees ahead of the event for pre-ordering menu choices on the day)