Chapter 10: Alibi

While Freddie's teams have been cutting a swath through Norman's back catalogue of wives, Norman St John-Ferris has been hosting a conference on the Commercialisation Of Heritage. Hamblingham Hall has provided a venue of historical distinction for discussions on the development of access, the improvement of presentation, and the role of info-tainment.

The Trust has provided speakers. Members of Britain's impoverished aristocracy have come together to cry on one another's shoulders in an attempt to reverse the tide of wealth driving out breeding. A range of re-enactment societies, architectural restorers and theme park operators have tried to present their various products as panaceas for an ailing industry.

The conference has served its purpose. Contacts have been made, relationships formed, ideas exchanged and, most of all, Norman has been seen in the company of a large number of people while his former wives have been accosted, drugged, abducted, and imprisoned hundreds of miles away from him.