Mitford family to "The Times" journalist Ben Macintyre, as "Diana the Fascist, Jessica the Communist, Unity the Hitler-lover; Nancy the Novelist; Deborah the Duchess and Pamela the unobtrusive poultry connoisseur". The family traces its origins in Northumberland back to the time of the Norman conquest. In the Middle Ages they had been Border Reivers based in Redesdale. The main family line had seats at Mitford Castle and Mitford Old Manor House prior to Mitford Hall in 1828. The sisters achieved notoriety for their controversial but stylish lives as young people, then for their public political divisions between communism and fascism. Nancy and
Sisters Family Cookbook a book, the seven sisters chipped in $157 each to pay for the publication costs. In May 2006 the “Sisters Family Cookbook” was published. To begin with the sisters ordered 300 copies. Much to their surprise the cookbooks “sold like hotcakes” and since then more than 6,000 copies of the first book have been sold. “The first copies contained recipes from each sister, with a healthy dose of humorous trips and quotes, famous wise sayings, helpful kitchen pointers and heartwarming stories and poems all crowded together in a three-ring binders with a picture of the sisters on the front.” Shirley