Get Your Free Audiobook

  • Noble Ambitions

  • The Fall and Rise of the English Country House After World War II
  • Written by: Adrian Tinniswood
  • Narrated by: Roger May
  • Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins

Prime logo New to Audible Prime Member exclusive:
2 credits with free trial
1 credit a month to use on any title to download and keep
Listen to anything from the Plus Catalogue—thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts and audiobooks
Download titles to your library and listen offline
₹199 per month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.
Noble Ambitions cover art

Noble Ambitions

Written by: Adrian Tinniswood
Narrated by: Roger May
Free with 30-day trial

₹199 per month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for ₹500.00

Buy Now for ₹500.00

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice.

Publisher's Summary

A rollicking tour of the English country home after World War II, when swinging London collided with aristocratic values.

As the sun set slowly on the British Empire, its mansions fell and rose. Ancient families were reduced to demolishing the parts of their stately homes they could no longer afford, dukes and duchesses desperately clung to their ancestral seats, and a new class of homeowners bought their way into country life. A delicious romp, Noble Ambitions pulls us into these crumbling halls of power, leading us through the juiciest bits of postwar aristocratic history - from Mick Jagger dancing at deb balls to the scandals of Princess Margaret. Capturing the spirit of the age, historian Adrian Tinniswood proves that the country house is not only an iconic symbol, but a lens through which to understand the shifting fortunes of the British elite in an era of monumental social change.

©2021 Adrian Tinniswood (P)2021 Basic Books
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic Reviews

"Erudite and delightfully gossipy.”—Wall Street Journal

"Tinniswood [is] an erudite historian of country-house life in all its anecdote-worthy vagaries.”—Financial Times

"If you’re still mourning the end of ‘Downton Abbey,’ this book, charting the rise and fall of the English country house, is most definitely the book for you. A lively history of post-World War II England as told through its grandest estates and ancestral seats.”—New York Post

What listeners say about Noble Ambitions

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.