Delaval Thomas Harold Astley, 23rd Baron Hastings (born 25 April 1960) is an English

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

, actor, and farmer.

Family

Delaval Astley was born on 25 April 1960 to Edward Delaval Henry Astley, the 22nd Baron Hastings, and Catherine "Nicki" Hinton, Lady Astley. He was educated at

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, and ...

followed by

Hatfield College, Durham , motto_English = Either the first or with the first , scarf = , named_for = Thomas Hatfield , established = , senior_tutor = , master = Ann MacLarnon (2017–) , undergraduates = 1010 (2017/18) , postgradu ...

. At Durham he was active in student theatre and won the award for best individual performance at the One Act Play Festival during the 1978-1979 academic year. Delaval's father Edward was a prominent member of the British government under the Conservative administrations of the 1960s and a noted philanthropist and patron of the arts. Delaval Astley inherited the ancient baronial title upon the death of his father in April 2007, becoming the 23rd Baron Hastings and 13th Baronet Astley. The most recent Astley family seat was at

Seaton Delaval Hall Seaton Delaval Hall is a Grade I listed country house in Northumberland, England, near the coast just north of Newcastle upon Tyne. Located between Seaton Sluice and Seaton Delaval, it was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh in 1718 for Admiral George ...

in Northumberland, prior to its being sold to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

in December 2009. Lord Hastings is married to Veronica M. Smart, now Lady Hastings, and the couple have one son and two daughters.

Acting

For some years he played the character of Cameron Fraser in the long-running British radio drama ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural settin ...

''. Lord Hastings now resides near

Letheringsett Letheringsett with Glandford is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It includes the village of Letheringsett, along with the hamlet of Glandford. The village straddles the A148 King’s Lynn to Cromer road. Letheringsett is 1.2 miles ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, where he is currently a farmer and businessman. He has been involved in a variety of local projects, such as the Holt Festival. In 2014, Lord Hastings donated to the Festival and was named a Platinum Ambassador for his contributions.

References

1960 births English male radio actors English male voice actors People from Letheringsett with Glandford Living people Barons Hastings Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham {{England-actor-stub