Madresfield Court is a country house in Malvern, England. The home of the Lygon family for nearly six centuries, it has never been sold and has passed only by inheritance since the 12th century; the present building is a Victorian reconstruction, although the origins of the present house are from the 16th century, the site has been occupied since Anglo-Saxon times. The novelist Evelyn Waugh was a frequent visitor to the house and based the family of Marchmain, who are central to his novel Brideshead Revisited, on the Lygons. Surrounded by a moat, the Court is a Grade I listed building; the origin of the name of the court is Old English,'maederesfeld', mower's field. Madresfield is not recorded in the Domesday Book but is mentioned in the Westminster Cartulary of 1086 as a possession of Urse d'Abetot, Sheriff of Worcestershire. Dorothy Williams, the Lygon family historian, notes that, by 1196, the manor was held by the de Bracy family who retained it for three centuries until the marriage of Joan Bracy to Thomas Lygon in 1419-1420.

The marriage between Thomas, the Bracy heiress established the connection between the court and the Lygon family which has continued into the 21st century. Their only son Willam was bequeathed the manor of Madresfield by Joan's mother in 1450 and the house has been the home of the Lygon family since that time; the Lygons were substantial landowners, although minor gentry, until an advantageous marriage between Richard Lygon and Anne Beauchamp, one of three daughters and heirs of Richard Beauchamp, 2nd Baron Beauchamp in the late 15th century. In 1593 Madresfield Court was rebuilt. In 1806, William Lygon was made a baronet and subsequently ennobled as Earl Beauchamp in 1815; the family's position had been transformed by the death of a distant relative, William Jennens, in 1798. Known as "William the Miser", "the richest commoner in England", Jennens had amassed a large fortune through inheritance, stock dealing, property investments and money lending, his death saw his fortune split between three distant relatives, with William Lygon's share equating to some £40 million pounds at 2012 values.

The lack of a will saw the estate become subject to one of England's lengthiest court cases and Jennens, which ran for over 100 years. The case formed the basis of the suit of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, used as the main plot device by Charles Dickens in his 1852-3 novel, Bleak House. In 1866, the title and Madresfield passed to Frederick Lygon, his elder brother, his father, both Henry, having died within three years of each other.}} Within the year Frederick Lygon pushed forward the major reconstruction of the court begun by his brother, a building programme that continued until the 6th earl's death in 1891. Madresfield was the home of the 7th Earl Beauchamp. Despite a prominent political and social career, the earl's homosexuality was a open secret. "Nonsense," Nicolson replied, "he said ‘Shut the door.’" In 1931 the earl was forced abroad following a sexual scandal instigated by his brother-in-law, the Duke of Westminster, Bendor Grosvenor. Jealous of the earl's "public reputation, his splendid offices and his male heir", Westminster intrigued to bring about Beauchamp's destruction.

Following the earl's exile, Evelyn Waugh became a close friend of three of the Beauchamp daughters and a frequent visitor to the house. Waugh had been close to Hugh Lygon, Beauchamp's second son, at Oxford; the central family of his novel Brideshead Revisited, the Flytes, are modelled on the Beauchamps. After their father’s disgrace, most of Beauchamp’s children took his, rather than their mother’s side, a marble bust of the countess was consigned to the moat. Charles Ryder, the narrator in Brideshead Revisited noted "More than the work of great architects, I loved buildings that grew silently with the centuries and keeping the best of each generation"; the historian David Dutton considered that Beauchamp's most lasting legacy was "the assumed portrayal of his family tragedy in Evelyn Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited". Documents released by the National Archives in January 2006 showed that emergency plans were made to evacuate Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret to Madresfield in the event of a successful German invasion following the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940.

Five years Worcestershire County Council's Historic and Archaeology archive confirmed that the 1940 plan was part of pre-existing 1938 invasion contingency plans. In the event of an invasion breaking out of a lodgement in Kent and threatening London, the whole UK government would move to Worcestershire with the Royal family residing at Madresfield. After the 7th Earl's death in New York in 1938, his son Lord Elmley inherited the court; the atmosphere created by the 8th earl and his Danish wife, was uncongenial to most of the rest of the family and Mary and Sibell left the house, none returning for fifty years. Before her death in 1989, Countess Beauchamp, endowed the Elmley Foundation to support the arts in the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire; the house was never opened to the public during her lifetime. From 1970, Madresfield Court was the home of Rosalind, Lady Morrison and Mona's niece and, as of 2012, it is run and lived in by her daughter, Lucy Chenevix-Trench. In 2014, an extensive remodelling of the interior of the house was undertaken by the interior designers Todhunter Earle.

Madresfield Court has never been sold or bought in its hist

David Zogg was a Swiss alpine and Nordic combined skier. He was raised in Switzerland. At the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz he finished 16th in the Nordic combined event. In 1931, he won the first World Championship in Slalom and in 1934, he was World Champion in downhill skiing. In the 1930s, he participated in a few films about skiing. After retiring from ski racing he was the head of the ski school in Arosa for many years. David Zogg additionally played a role in opening up the exploration of the Himalayas by being appointed the deputy leader of the 1939 Swiss expedition to the Himalayas undertaken by the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research; the outcomes of this were "Exploration of the Ramani glacier basic, first ascent of Dunagiri, Ghori Parbat. Attempt on Chaukhamba" There's more about his mountaineering in the German article. David Zogg on IMDb Evans, Hilary. "David Zogg". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC

Tzavalas Karousos was a Greek actor. He was first acted in the theatre by the Veakis-Nezer theatrical company. With theatrical studies in France and other European countries, he played at the National Theatre during the golder period of Fotos Politis, after the war, he took part at the theatrical company and used with the actions of the Greek Folklore Theatre with Manos Katrakis, he first acted in the National Theatre and succeeded Aimilios Veakis, Karoussos moved and entered agonistically for a democratic idea. He switched to the modern Greek work and first starred in many Greek movies His tole which made hin the Shylock in The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare, he finished his acting careed due to the dictatorship, he last appeared at the Piraeus Public Theatre, he left for Paris, where he remained until his death at age 64 in 1969. Tzavalas Karousos on IMDb

The Counts of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis first appear in the early 11th century. Its principal town was Clermont, now in the Oise department but within the ancient county of Beauvaisis in the province of Île-de-France. Following the death of the childless Theobald VI of Blois, Philip II of France bought the county from his heirs in 1218 and added it to the French crown, it was first granted as an appanage in 1218 to Philip Hurepel. Baldwin I of Clermont Baldwin II of Clermont, son of Baldwin I. Renaud I of Clermont, son-in-law of Baldwin II Hugh of Clermont, son of Renaud I Renaud II of Clermont, son of Hugh I Raoul I of Clermont, son of Renaud II and Constable of France Louis I of Blois, son-in-law of Raoul Theobald VI of Blois, son of LouisHe sold Clermont to Philip II of France in 1218. Philip Hurepel, son of Philip II of France Alberic, son of Philip, resigned the title to his sister Jeanne, Countess of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis, daughter of PhilipOn her death without heirs, the title reverted to the crown.

Robert, Count of Clermont Louis I, Duke of Bourbon, son of RobertLouis exchanged Clermont for La Marche in 1327, but it was returned to him in 1331 Peter I, Duke of Bourbon Louis II, Duke of Bourbon John I, Duke of Bourbon Charles I, Duke of Bourbon John II, Duke of Bourbon Charles II, Duke of Bourbon Peter II, Duke of Bourbon Suzanne, Duchess of Bourbon Charles III, Duke of Bourbon After the death of Charles III, his fiefs were confiscated by the crown. Charles II de Valois, Duke of Orléans Henri, Comte de Paris, Duc de France François Henri Louis Marie, Comte de Clermont Baldwin, John W.. The Government of Philip Augustus: Foundations of French Royal Power in the Middle Ages. University of California Press. Wood, Charles T.. The French Apanages and the Capetian Monarchy, 1224-1328. Harvard University Press

Evelyn Hamann was a German actress. She was born into a family of musicians in Hamburg, Germany: her father Bernhard Hamann was a violinist, the concertmaster of the NDR symphony orchestra, founder of the Hamann Quartet. Evelyn Hamann liked to keep her private life out of the public eye, so little is known about her life off-camera. Between 1964 and 1976 she was married to Hans Walter Braun. After her divorce she lived with actor Stefan Behrens, she died during the night of 28 to 29 October 2007 as a result of lymphoma. After an acting course at Hamburg University of Music and the Performing Arts, where she was taught by Eduard Marks, among others, Hamann started a career on the stage, she took on small roles at the Thalia Theater, from 1968 her stage career took her to Göttingen and Bremen, where she played Marthe Schwertlein in Goethe's Urfaust. From 1976 Evelyn Hamann featured in many comedy sketches in Loriot's television programmes, her comedic effect was enhanced by her ability to appear deadly serious or stiffly formal, despite absurd situations.

Hamann acted in Loriot's films Pappa Ante Portas. Hamann appeared as housekeeper Karsta Michaelis in the television soap opera The Black Forest Clinic in the 1980s and as Thea in medical drama Der Landarzt. From 1992 she played the title role in the ARD television series Adelheid und ihre Mörder. Evelyn Hamann read authors' works aloud at literary readings and narrated audiobooks, including Patricia Highsmith's crime thrillers. 1985–1989 – The Black Forest Clinic 1987 – Evelyn und die Männer 1989/1991/1992 – Der Millionenerbe 1989/1991/1992 – Kein pflegeleichter Fall 1991 – Glückliche Reise 1992 – Vater braucht eine Frau 1992–1999 – Evelyn Hamann Specials 1993–2005 – Evelyn Hamanns Geschichten aus dem Leben 1992–2006 – Adelheid und ihre Mörder 1995 – Das Traumschiff 1998 – Wut im Bauch 1999 – Ehe-Bruch 1987 – Ödipussi 1990 – Pappa ante Portas 1977 – Goldene Kamera 1987 – Goldene Kamera 1993 – Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1997 – Telestar "Best actress in a series" for "Adelheid und ihre Mörder" 1997 – Bayerischer Fernsehpreis "Best actress in a series" for Beste "Adelheid und ihre Mörder" 1997 – Goldene Kamera 1998 – Honorary Superintendent of the Bavarian Police Force 2000 – Deutscher Videopreis 2002 – Münchhausen-Preis Goldener Löwe Loriot German television comedy List of German language comedians Evelyn Hamann on IMDb Evelyn Hamann in the German National Library catalogue Hollywood Reporter: German actress Evelyn Hamann dies Short biography in German German newspaper article reporting her death