The eccentric Mitford sisters - six famous lives from a single aristocratic family

The Mitford sisters achieved early celebrity status in Britain between the First and Second World Wars, due to their extraordinary and divergent trajectories through the maelstrom of pre-War society, their roles as authors, political activists and the men they married.

They were from an eccentric aristocratic English family and lived through some of the most extraordinary moments in 20th-century history.

There were six Mitford sisters, born between 1904 and 1920. Each carved out a distinct and memorable identity. The eldest was Nancy, who wrote many novels, including the semi-autobiographical The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, which gave readers a fascinating insight into the world of the landed aristocracy. She spent most of her life in France.

Next in order of age was Pamela Mitford. She married and divorced millionaire bisexual physicist Derek Jackson. Poet and writer John Betjeman, was for a time was in love with her, and referred to her as the "Rural Mitford". After her divorce, she spent the remainder of her life as the companion of Giuditta Tommasi (who died in 1993), an Italian horsewoman.

Renowned beauty Diana, the "fascist Mitford" left her husband for British Fascist leader Oswald Mosley in the approach to the Second World War. She was interned in Holloway Prison for much of the War as a devotee of fascism and Adolf Hitler.

Unity Mitford also adored Adolf Hitler, and was one of his inner circle of friends. After the declaration of the Second World War, she attempted suicide in Munich by shooting herself in the head. She survived, but was badly injured and was allowed safe passage back to England. She never recovered and died in 1948.

Communist rebel Jessica eloped with her cousin to join the Spanish Civil War to fight on the Republican side, and later became a campaigning journalist in America.

Deborah married the Duke of Devonshire, and helped to turn his ancestral home, Chatsworth House, a legendary venue for aristocratic entertainment, into one of Britain's most successful stately homes.

The one Mitford brother, Tom, was killed in Burma during the war.