The Thynne Inheritance - 1980 ITV documentary about Lord Bath and Longleat House

Dusting down some VHS tapes in my attic I came across this hour long documentary I cut in 1980. Sadly, Terry Miller, the director, died in 2022. We had a great working relationship in that he shot a few thousand feet of 16mm film and I got the rushes to get on and cut. A few weeks later he'd come back and see what I'd done. We made a few docs this way and it was fun. And most of the participants have now passed on which is a shame. Made by HTV, it caused quite a stir when it was transmitted by ITV. This was due to the very obvious tension between the two sons (and their wives) of Henry Thynn, the then Lord Bath, who was a lovely bloke and the guy that started the whole 'lions of Longleat' saga. Narrated by Cliff Michelmore.

[@pamfrank3962]

Wonderful documentary...interesting and informative ❤

[@cyrklife]

I lived on the estate from 1977-1981, my mum managed the restaurant and stepdad managed the lions and tigers, often there would be a cub in my lounge! Wonderful times. I also went to school with Lenka Thynn in Warminster, cheers

[@rainbowcreative5318]

❤ excellent, thank you very much. I really enjoyed this documentary on Longleat 😊

[@MikeKleinsteuber]

Thanks for the comment. I wanted to do a follow up and wrote to the estate but no one ever got back which was a shame

[@elliefitzgerald-zd7xd]

This was so interesting, after having been a Vistor in my childhood in the 80’s and resumed as a annual pass holder this year understanding the dynamics of the family was fascinating.thank you for going to the trouble of uploading this. Is it odd that I empathise with both generations and find it interesting that the current lord bath didn’t like his father, just as his grandfather predicted here.

[@MikeKleinsteuber]

Glad you liked it. Henry was a lovely bloke and so was Chris...

[@benjaminzedrine]

Lord Bath on the landing when the chopper flies off, classic.

[@alexisbelcher3967]

This estate was in a 1978 movie Blue Bloods with Oliver Reed and Anna Gael good flick 😊

[@MikeKleinsteuber]

Interesting. Thanks for the info

[@mariescarth1756]

He seems an approachable jolly man unlije his grandson

[@cindymaceda2999]

Well, the hereditary titles & the entail survived Alexander Thynne, the 7th Marquess.

[@coloneljackmustard]

Did he kick off?

[@cgarby]

@@coloneljackmustard2020 I t think.

[@mariescarth1756]

Their ancestor sounds like a Narcissist a jumped up cook, yep definitely a narcissist controlling

[@adam3695]

'promo sm' 👇