Radio royalty

[gary_crutchley]

I suspect these are actually props. Why would he still have a 1960's radio on display, unless he was an enthusiast?

[Yorkie]

I suspect these are actually props. Why would he still have a 1960's radio on display, unless he was an enthusiast?

Much depends on where the radio was sited in the house.

Bear in mind that the house has been in the hands of the N.T. since 1960.

The 5th Earl ('Lord' Lichfield as he came to be known, who gained fame as a 'society' photographer), didn't own the house - he was just a tenant in the private apartment.  Following the death of the 4th earl in 1960 an agreement was reached whereby in lieu of death duties, the estate would pass to the National Trust. The house opened to the public in 1966 and is leased to Staffordshire County Council who manage and maintain it on behalf of the N.T. Thomas Patrick John Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield retained an apartment in the hall till his death in 2005, paying a nominal rent to the N.T.

The private apartments were the living quarters of 5th Earl (and his family) until 2010 and are now I believe open to the public like the rest of the house. (Lord Lichfield suffered a major stroke on 10 Nov 2005, and died the following day (Remembrance Day) at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, aged just 66).

If the radio and other such items were in the part of the house which was opened to the public after the N.T. took it over from 1960 (the year the radio came out), no doubt they will have left everything more or less as it was, but even if it was  in the private apartment, there's no reason to believe that Lichfield will necessarily have chucked such a radio out - it was certainly an expensive, upmarket radio in its day. (The landed gentry are known for not throwing much out!)

But that said  the National Trust are indeed  noted for putting props wherever it takes their fancy. For an outfit allegedly dedicated to conservation they (or someone acting on their behalf from whom they procure items as props) think nothing of ripping the guts out of vintage radios - often quite rare and valuable ones - and putting an MP3 player inside playing music that sounds nothing like it would on a valve radio, but maybe it fools an undiscerning public?

(We've been members of the NT for thirty years and visit NT properties extensively, and have visited Shugborough several times).

[gary_crutchley]

Yorkie, thanks very much for some fascinating information. We have also been NT members for years, great value.