There Will Always Be an England...
Martha Bridegam
since one of the chief remaining purposes of the British peerage is to
keep the rest of us amused.
"...once gave such an arousingly singular speech on UFOs in the Lords
that the Hansard record of the speech was sold out within 24 hours..."
"...had been fired from the chairmanship of the National Council on
Alcoholism by the British health minister after publicly maintaining
that alcoholics need not abstain from drink. Lord Kimberley explained
that although he was an alcoholic, he continued to drink a bottle of
white wine a day and was none the worse for it.
He contrasted his present state of health to that of his "insane" years
of drinking, explaining that by "insane" he meant that "no normal person
would try to drive a car up the steps of the Grand Hotel in Brighton,"
as he had once done...."
And much, much more.
See
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49539-2002Jun2.html>.
/MAB
ROBBIE
Martha Bridegam <brid...@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:3D0A678E...@pacbell.net...
Sir Rebound Nosh approves.
>
Rowland McDonnell
> ...but there is no longer a Fourth Earl of Kimberley. A great loss,
> since one of the chief remaining purposes of the British peerage is to
> keep the rest of us amused.
>
> "...once gave such an arousingly singular speech on UFOs in the Lords
> that the Hansard record of the speech was sold out within 24 hours..."
[snip]
Alas, now that they've chucked the hereditaries out of the Lords,
there'll be a good deal less of this sort of thing. And more's the
pity, if you ask me.
Rowland.
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Tom Deveson
> ...but there is no longer a Fourth Earl of Kimberley. A great loss,
> since one of the chief remaining purposes of the British peerage is to
> keep the rest of us amused.
When Hugh Massingberd took over as obituary editor of the *Daily
Telegraph* in 1986, he started to print a lot more of this kind of
memorial. I got an anthology of them for 50p in a charity shop. It's
great for reading in the bath.
They include:
the 12th Marquess of Huntly who worked as a car salesman, married a
nurse forty years his junior, and inherited the unofficial Huntly
title "Cock o' the North"
Denisa Lady Newborough who was a wire-walker, nightclub hostess, nude
dancer, milliner, antiques dealer, speaker of 14 languages and
convicted brothel owner (the conviction was later quashed)
the 4th Earl of Wharncliffe who was a stock-car driver, publican,
garage mechanic and rock-and-roll drummer, and was sent to jail for
causing death by dangerous driving
the 4th Earl Russell (Bertrand's son) who in the House of Lords
advocated giving three-quarters of the wealth of the State to
12-year-old girls so that marriage might be abolished, and claimed
that Brezhnev and Jimmy Carter were the same person
the tall cadaverous 9th Earl of St Germans who went into tax exile in
Tangier and called himself "The Tangerine Earl"
the 11th Viscount Barrington who as Patrick Barrington wrote comic
verse ("I had a duck-billed platypus when I was up at Trinity/ For
whom I soon developed a remarkable affinity...") and put his
encyclopaedic knowledge of English poetry to good use by reciting a
fixed number of stanzas of Omar Khayyam in order to time his boiled
eggs
the 3rd Lord Moynihan who was by turns a bongo drummer, conman,
drug-smuggler, brothel-keeper, chauffeur for Peter Rachman the slum
landlord
etc. etc.
And that's not to mention the baronets.
Tom
Rowland McDonnell
[snip]
> the 4th Earl of Wharncliffe
[snip]
> was sent to jail for
> causing death by dangerous driving
How the *hell* did he manage that one?
(I've long been pissed off at the light sentences people get for killing
someone using a car as the weapon - they don't even get done for
manslaughter)
> the 4th Earl Russell (Bertrand's son) who in the House of Lords
> advocated giving three-quarters of the wealth of the State to
> 12-year-old girls so that marriage might be abolished,
I think I like that. Would the world *really* be worse off if run by
people who, last year, considered Britney Spear's latest video to be the
most pressing issue they had to deal with? I suspect not.
[snip]
> the 3rd Lord Moynihan who was by turns a bongo drummer, conman,
> drug-smuggler, brothel-keeper, chauffeur for Peter Rachman the slum
> landlord
[snip]
`Peter Rachman the slum landlord and complete and utter bastard in every
way you can possibly imagine'
Rowland.
(not giving a damn that Rachman's dead and can't answer back: he
deserves all the shit he gets, posthumous or not)
Tom Deveson
>> the 4th Earl of Wharncliffe
>> causing death by dangerous driving
>
>How the *hell* did he manage that one?
Despite being at one stage a member of the Institute of Advanced
Motorists, Wharncliffe was involved in a number of car accidents. He was
banned from driving on several occasions. In 1975, when he was banned
for three years for drunk driving, the court was told he'd vowed never
to drink again.
However, two weeks after the ban ended, his car was involved in a fatal
accident in which a pub landlady was killed. Wharncliffe himself had
multiple fractures and was put on life support, at one stage being
pronounced clinically dead; the case was postponed while he recovered,
during which time he fell off his crutches and broke a leg. But
eventually he was jailed for six months. While he was in prison, it was
reported that another inmate acted as his unofficial valet.
Shortly after his release from prison, his elder daughter was killed in
a car crash at the age of 21.
He was supposedly known as 'Mad Ike' in the village near Sheffield where
the family estate was situated.
His band -- the Johnny Lenniz band which also included a fishmonger and
a stone merchant -- had cut a version of *Shake, Rattle and Roll* in
1957.
Tom
--
Tom Deveson
Rowland McDonnell
> Rowland McDonnell writes
> >> the 4th Earl of Wharncliffe
> >> was sent to jail for
> >> causing death by dangerous driving
> >
> >How the *hell* did he manage that one?
>
>
> Despite being at one stage a member of the Institute of Advanced
> Motorists, Wharncliffe was involved in a number of car accidents. He was
> banned from driving on several occasions. In 1975, when he was banned
> for three years for drunk driving, the court was told he'd vowed never
> to drink again.
>
> However, two weeks after the ban ended, his car was involved in a fatal
> accident in which a pub landlady was killed.
Ah yes - that'd do it; assuming that they're allowed to take previous
convictions into account when deciding sentences, which makes sense to
me but legal things often surprise me.
> Wharncliffe himself had
> multiple fractures and was put on life support, at one stage being
> pronounced clinically dead; the case was postponed while he recovered,
> during which time he fell off his crutches and broke a leg.
<chuckle>
> But
> eventually he was jailed for six months.
Ah well. Should have locked the bugger up for longer, I reckon. I
don't suppose anyone's got a clue how it is you can kill someone using a
car and not be done for murder (which covers reckless as well as
deliberate acts) or manslaughter?
> While he was in prison, it was
> reported that another inmate acted as his unofficial valet.
I wonder why? Curious.
> Shortly after his release from prison, his elder daughter was killed in
> a car crash at the age of 21.
>
> He was supposedly known as 'Mad Ike' in the village near Sheffield where
> the family estate was situated.
Makes sense.
> His band -- the Johnny Lenniz band which also included a fishmonger and
> a stone merchant -- had cut a version of *Shake, Rattle and Roll* in
> 1957.
Righto - ta for all that.
Rowland.
Martha Bridegam
Tom Deveson wrote:
And what ever happened to Lord James and Lady Amanda Neidpath of
trepanation fame?
(<http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=3a3fdc16.24463917%40news.earthlink.net>)
/MAB