Asthall Manor Park. The youngest of the Mitford sisters Deborah, later Duchess of Devonshire, was born at Asthall in 1920. Her sister Diana had an appendectomy on the spare-bedroom table. The Mitfords were great socialites, and Asthall hosted frequent hunting and shooting weekend parties, regular guests included Clementine Churchill, Frederick Lindemann and Walter Sickert. Nancy Mitford's fictional Alconleigh in "The Pursuit of Love" is based largely on Asthall, and family life there is described in Jessica Mitford's autobiographical "Hons and Rebels". Redesdale had never planned to make Asthall Manor a permanent home, and in 1926 the family moved into nearby Swinbrook House
The World Famous Pontani Sisters Europe and the United States extensively, often with Los Straitjackets. The Pontanis appear on the cover of the Los Straitjackets album "Twist Party!!!", also credited to "Los Straitjackets with the World Famous Pontani Sisters and Kaiser George", and appear on an accompanying DVD. They have performed several times with Los Straitjackets on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien". The Pontani Sisters were the subject of a 2004 documentary film by Rebecca Shapiro, "Showy and Five Foot Two." The Sisters have released two DVDs combining dance instruction with aerobic exercise- "Go-Go Robics" & "Go Go Robics II". Recently, Angie Pontani has also