Annals of the Hoare house: A ghostly tale for Hallowe'en

The story of Stowe's infamous ghost is one that is frequently told, but for all its subtle variations, happens to be true: not from your correspondent's point of view, but certainly from his father's and that of his famous headmaster, the immortal J.F. Roxborough, who saw into being the conversion of Stowe House into Stowe School in 1923 and its subsequent metamorphosis into one of the top ten private schools in Britain.

With no wish to cannibalise our video, which may, superficially, appear to bear little relation to books (not so: try Nick Morris's "Stowe House: an Architectural Masterpiece" for size), this fully documented tale of a young man's sobering encounter with a spectre on Midsummer's Eve remains a family treasure, as does Stowe itself; and regardless of the video's significance, for those of our viewers with any interest whatever in British horticultural and architectural design, this astonishing property remains one of the most distinguished, and fully restored, in the country.

As an aside, at the risk of yet more name-dropping, my father was one of the boys who opened the school in 1923. He not only shared a study with David Niven, but they, as prefects, shared in turn a rather portly "fag" (read "runner") by the name of Prince Rainier!

More Annals of the Hoare House at

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