Competing with the incorrectness of "uncle Matthew"? (the famous Mitford father ) ... F *** ing FulFord / VIDEO BELLOW . Re-ordering the aristocracy

Francis Fulford of Great Fulford, Esq. (born 31 August 1952) is the 23rd Fulford of Great Fulford. He is a member of England's untitled Landed gentry and an esquire in the classical sense of the word, the most senior member of an ancient armigerous landed family who once possessed vast estates in Devon and Lincolnshire.He is a TV personality, property commentator, farmer, and regular contributor to radio and television.

Francis Fulford was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Edgar Anthony Fulford of Great Fulford by his wife Joan Shirley, younger daughter of Rear-Admiral C. Maurice Blackman, DSO. Lt.Col.Fulford had a considerable military career after leaving the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and served in The Great War, Waziristan, Egypt, Palestine and World War II. Young Francis was born in the bed in which he still sleeps at Great Fulford Manor, near Dunsford in Devon, where he lives with his wife Kishanda and four children. His is one of the oldest landed gentry families in Devon and continues to occupy the same manor granted to William de Fulford by Richard I of England about 1190  as a reward for going on crusade. The present house dates back to the 16th Century.

Francis was educated firstly at Sunningdale School, Berkshire, where he immersed himself in the novels of G. A. Henty, such as With Moore at Corunna and With Clive in India. That was followed by Milton Abbey School in Dorset where he gained 'A'-levels in Economics, Politics, Art, and History of Art.

At the age of 18 he entered the Coldstream Guards but having failed to get a Commission escaped to Australia where he worked as a jackaroo. Returning, he went to work in the City of London as a stockbroker and insurance broker. Subsequently he manages his 3000 acre estate in Devon.

He is a popular figure on TV and known for his casual swearing in his programmes, epitomised by the name of his Channel Four television documentary programme: The F***ing Fulfords, directed by Norman Hull, which attracted an audience of three and a half million and Why Britain's F***ed (screened on 28 November 2009 on Sky One). Another of his ITV programmes was Why America Sucks, (5 December 2009).

In 2007 he was chosen by the Conservatives to fight the Teignbridge District Council seat of Teign Valley. However, he was defeated by the Independent candidate, Mr Stephen Purser on a turnout of 51%.

Fulford has spoken widely, and on the April 23, 2010 he was guest-of-honour at the Traditional Britain Group's Annual Dinner at the Charing Cross Hotel in central London,when he spoke on the state of English agriculture today.

He also writes a blog about life, entitled Francis Fulford's Blog.

•          Fulford, Francis, Bearing Up: The Long View, Timewell Press, London, 2004

In Bearing Up: The Long View, Francis Fulford looks at the troubled history of landowning and identifies the characteristics which have enabled many estates to survive while others have foundered. Surveying the scene today, Fulford draws on his own experiences to suggest a strategy of survival in the twenty-first century.

There have been Fulfords living at Great Fulford in Devon for eight hundred years. If Francis Fulford, the present owner, has anything to do with it, his descendants will be happily ensconced in the family pile as he is today. There may even be some new wallpaper by then.

In this robustly argued book, Fulford demolishes the myth that you need to be rich to live in a big house: just keep the roof on, the central heating off and the wife away from the shops. Then sit back and enjoy it, while your children race their bikes around the Great Hall.

Though Francis Fulford’s rugged philosophy will infuriate as many people as it delights, few will be bored as he reveals how one Englishman is making sure his castle is his home. For keeps.

- See more at: http://www.greatfulford.co.uk/bearing-up#sthash.rOjV0DAi.dpuf

Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Francis Fulford, landowner and writer

'I was fat at school, and very thick'

INTERVIEW BY JONATHAN SALE   Thursday 24 November 2005 / http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/passedfailed-an-education-in-the-life-of-francis-fulford-landowner-and-writer-516629.html

Francis Fulford, 53, has been a soldier, jackeroo (Aussie-style cowboy), trainee antique dealer, stockbroker and insurance broker. He is the author of Bearing Up and was featured in The F**king Fulfords on Channel 4. He presents Why England's F**ked on Monday 28 November on Sky One and on the same channel, Why America Sucks on 5 December.

I was born in Great Fulford, Devon, on the edge of Dartmoor, in the bed which I now sleep. We have been living here since the later part of the 12th century - since "time immemorial", which means since the reign of Richard I. You don't know much history if you don't know his dates: 1189 to 1199, very easy!

As far as my education is concerned, my parents couldn't be bothered to get up in time to take me to a conventional school. My father didn't come down before nine and my mother would have had to get up at seven to make the breakfast, which wasn't on. We had a governess until I was seven: several governesses, completely useless.

My pre-prep school, Leeson in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, was a total shock to the system. It was draconian and the food was completely dreadful. I was extremely unhappy - but I dare say they did teach you quite well.

I was there for just over a year and then went to Sunningdale School in Berkshire. I couldn't believe the food was so good! I was fat, and thus called Fatty, and also thick. The school prided itself on its academic standards and its games, so I didn't shine.

The best thing about the school was the brilliant library, with all the marvellous stuff by [Victorian adventure novelist] GA Henty: With Moore at Corunna, With Clive in India. I was dyslexic, but I learnt to read though I couldn't spell.

My plan was that I should go to Eton but I failed the exam. (I'm sometimes surprised by meeting people who passed and thinking that they're quite thick.) It was my introduction to the word "failure", which would feature quite large in my life, but perhaps it's better to learn about this early on.

Then I went to Milton Abbey in Dorset. You're not much of an education correspondent if you haven't heard of Milton Abbey! It was the headmaster's belief that, just because you didn't shine academically, you shouldn't be written off. I've always been a "late developer" and I drifted through my schooldays; I had a few laughs.

We liked the English teacher. He would recite poetry with his eyes shut and we would shoot paper pellets at him through Biro tubes. We were streamed into As and Bs and by being in a lower stream some subjects were barred to you. Still, there's always going to be some hard-luck stories in any system of education.

O-levels? I've still got my certificates. I took maths three, maybe four times, and got bored with it. I got an AS in general studies, a B, I think. I got three A-levels: economics and politics, art and history of art. I think they were Ds; but probably they'd be As if I took them today, wouldn't they?

University? I never thought of that. They were something to be despised: left-wing, sit-ins, anti-Vietnam demonstrations. The people there seemed like the dregs of society. At 18 I went into the Coldstream Guards as "another rank" and after nine months I failed my Regular Commissions Board, so I went off to Australia as a jackaroo. Then I came back and took the RCB exams and failed again: lots of failures in my life.

When you went to work in the city, you didn't have exams; you learnt on the job. If you look at all the people who make money, none of them went to f***ing university! A lot went to Milton Abbey.

jonty@jonathansale.com