GRENFELL, Joyce (1910-1979)

[302] pp.

Futura Publications Limited

1977

7″ x 4 1/2″

w/ 3-fold handwritten letter laid-in

VG

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Born in Montpelier Square, Knightsbridge, London, Grenfell was the daughter of an American socialite, Nora Langhorne (18891955), one of five daughters of Chiswell Langhorne, an American railway millionaire, and of the architect Paul Phipps (18801953), the grandson of Charles Paul Phipps and a second cousin of the diseuse Ruth Draper, in whose professional footsteps she followed. The Phipps family were wealthy clothiers, whose success allowed them to join the gentry of their native Wiltshire. Nancy Astor was one of her maternal aunts; Grenfell often visited her at the Astors home of Cliveden and lived in a cottage on the estate, a mile from the main house, in the early years of her marriage.

Actress, comedienne and raconteur Joyce Grenfell tells the story of her working in radio, film, the stage and war-time entertainment tours. Her glamorous and madcap American mother, aunt Nancy Astor and husband Reggie are just some of the larger-than-life characters in this reading