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BBC Radio 4 Extra

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Book of the Week

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Serialised book readings, featuring works from various genres

Serialised book readings, featuring works of non-fiction, biography, autobiography, travel, diaries, essays, humour and history

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Book of the Week: Diana Cooper - Darling Monster

John Julius Norwich

Patricia Hodge

David Roper

Barry Johnston

Diana Cooper

Book of the Week: Diana Cooper - Darling Monster: Episode 5

Darling Monster

Episode 5

Diana Cooper - Darling Monster

BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week, Diana Cooper - Darling Monster, Episode 5

John Julius is now a student at Oxford, while his mother continues to live in France.

John Julius is now a student at Oxford, while his mother Lady Diana continues to live in France. Her husband Duff is offered a peerage. Read by Patricia Hodge.

This new book contains the letters sent from aristocrat, society darling and actress of stage and early screen, Lady Diana Cooper, to her only son, John Julius Norwich.

When Lady Diana married rising political star Duff Cooper, they became the golden couple who knew everyone who was anyone. Her letters serve as a portrait of a time, capturing some of history's most dramatic events and most important figures with immediacy and intimacy. But they also give us a touching portrait of the love between a mother and son, separated by war, oceans and the constraints of the time they lived in.

Her letters span the years 1939 to 1952, taking in the Blitz, Diana's short spell as a farmer in Sussex, a trip to the Far East when husband Duff was collecting war intelligence, the couple's three years in the Paris embassy, as well as a great number of journeys around Europe and North Africa.

In the final episode, John Julius Norwich is now a student at Oxford, while his mother Lady Diana Cooper continues to live in France. Her husband Duff is offered a peerage.


Read by John Julius Norwich and Patricia Hodge
Producer: David Roper
Abridger: Barry Johnston

A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.

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Amusing and revealing letters from Lady Diana Cooper to her only son John Julius Norwich

Amusing and revealing letters from aristocrat, society darling and actress of stage and early screen Lady Diana Cooper to her only son John Julius Norwich

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