Editing Unity Mitford (section)

===Rumours of Hitler's baby===
In December 2007, Bright published an article in ''New Statesman'' stating that following a previous article on Unity Mitford, he had received a phone call from a Ms Val Hann, a member of the public, offering new information on the story. The caller said that during the war, her aunt, Betty Norton, had run Hill View Cottage, a private maternity hospital in Oxford where Mitford had been a client.<ref name="theTimes"/> According to Hann's family legend, passed from Betty to Val's mother and then on to Val herself, Mitford had checked into the hospital after her return to England where she had given birth to Hitler's child, who was subsequently placed for adoption.<ref name="theTimes"/> Bright states he was initially sceptical.<ref name="theTimes"/><ref name="newStatesman"/>

Bright travelled to [[Wigginton, Oxfordshire|Wigginton]] where the current owner of Hill View confirmed that Norton had indeed run the cottage as a maternity hospital during the war. Bright met with elderly village resident Audrey Smith, whose sister had worked at Hill View. She confirmed seeing "Unity wrapped in a blanket and looking very ill" but insisted that she was there to recover from a nervous breakdown and not to give birth.<ref name="theTimes"/>

Bright contacted Unity's sister Deborah who denounced the villager's gossip and claimed she could produce her mother's diaries to prove it. Bright returned to the National Archives where he found a file on Unity sealed under the 100-year rule. He received special permission to open it and discovered that in October 1941, while living at the family home in Swinbrook, she had been consorting with a married RAF test pilot – throwing doubt on her reported invalidity.<ref name="theTimes"/>

Bright then abandoned the investigation, until he mentioned the story to an executive from [[Channel 4]] who thought it was a good subject for a documentary film. Further investigation was then undertaken as part of the filming for ''[[Hitler's British Girl]]''.<ref Name="HBG"/> This included a visit to an Oxfordshire register office, showing an abnormally large number of birth registrations at Hill View at that time, apparently confirming its use as a maternity hospital. No records were found for Mitford, although the records officer stated many births were not registered at this time. The publication of the article and the broadcast of the film the following week stimulated media speculation that Hitler's child could be living in the United Kingdom.<ref name="theTimes">{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3042944.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709025025/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3042944.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 July 2008|title=Did Unity Mitford have Adolf Hitler's love child?|access-date=18 May 2008|last=Yeoman|first=Fran|date=13 December 2007|newspaper=The Times|location=London}}</ref><ref name="theSundayTimes">{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3056288.ece|title=Is your neighbour Hitler's son?|access-date=18 May 2008|date=13 December 2007|newspaper=The Sunday Times|location=London|first=Laura|last=Pitel}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref name="theMirror">{{cite web|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2007/12/14/a-real-little-hitler-89520-20248636|title=A real little Hitler|access-date=18 May 2008|last=Routledge|first=Paul|date=14 December 2007|publisher=The Mirror|archive-date=19 February 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219134744/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2007/12/14/a-real-little-hitler-89520-20248636/|url-status=dead}}</ref>