Lord Bristol, who died in 1999 of multiple organ failure at the age of 44, was a dashing wastrel whose hedonism knew no bounds. In his short life, he blew �30m of his family's money on riotous parties, industrial consignments of cocaine and heroin, and helicopters. He was twice imprisoned for drugs offences but it did no good. When asked whether prison had changed him, he replied: "Christ no! What's it supposed to do, anyway? It's designed for the lower classes, isn't it?"

Incarceration appeared to be genetic. At 23, John's father, Victor Hervey (who was soon-tobe the sixth Marquess of Bristol), was jailed for three years for his part in planning a jewellery robbery. Ickworth, the gorgeous family seat in Suffolk, had been given to the National Trust in the 1950s in lieu of death duties and the family leased back the east wing. In 1975, Victor put many of the Ickworth goods and chattels up for sale and moved to Monte Carlo. John raised enough to buy back the furniture, but eventually the house went the way of everything else in his life. In 1996, the contents were sold at auction and the National Trust bought the remainder of the east wing lease.

Today, the "saga of the Bristols" lives on. John's nieces, Lady Victoria and Lady Isabella Hervey, have become prominent (if occasionally wayward) actresses, socialites . . . and stars of reality TV.