麻豆约拍

As a child, Sheila McClennon spent her summer holidays in Anglesey, where she became obsessed with the story of the Fifth Marquis, Henry Cyril Paget.

He was an extravagant eccentric who converted the chapel at his stately home into a a theatre and spent enough to bankrupt the family in the space of six years.

His was a life of jaw-dropping excess. After the bankruptcy, a series of auctions held to recoup some of the money he had spent lasted several months and consisted of 17,000 lots, including some of the most lavish costumes in existence and jewels worth millions of pounds in today's money.

The family was keen to erase him from their history.

Little has been known about him until now, as Sheila returns to the scene of her family holidays to find out more about the man dubbed by locals, 'The Mad Marquis'.

Producer: Geoff Bird

First broadcast on 麻豆约拍 Radio 4 in August 2009.