This week’s quiz relates to popular culture. There are some leading figures in the arts and entertainment who sit in the House of Lords, including Melvyn Bragg (Lord Bragg) and Andrew Lloyd-Webber (Lord Lloyd-Webber). Melvyn Bragg once hosted an episode of the South Bank Show in which he interviewed the crime writer Ruth Rendell and brough in the novelist P. D. James. There was a reference to the fact that all three were peers, Lord Bragg interviewing Baroness Rendell and Baroness James of Holland Bank. I thought questions about any of these may be too easy for our well-informed readership. Instead, the questions this week are as follows, just two this week:
1. I star in Coronation Street and I am entitled to be styled as ‘The Honourable’ because I am the daughter of a (late) peer of the realm. Who am I?
2. I also now star in Coronation Street and am entitled to be styled as ‘The Honourable’ because I am the son of a (late) peer of the realm. (I am also a nephew of a current member of the Lords.) Who am I?
As usual, the first two readers to supply the correct answers will be the winners.
1) Sue Nicholls, daughter of former Conservative MP&MEP)
2) Nigel Havers, son of the late Lord Havers QC, Conservative.
Suprising number of Conservatives pedigrees. There’s another Coronation Street actor who is a champion of John Major as best Prime Minister!
From watching ‘The Lords’ Tale’ on youtube I see that Coronation Street was popular with hereditary peers.
1. (Hon) Sue Nicholl (plays Audrey Roberts) daughter of Lord Harmer-Nicholls
2. (Hon) Nigel Havers (plays Lewis Archer) son of Lord Havers and Nephew to Baroness Butler-Sloss
I’ve never watched Coronation Street so I admit I just searched for these.
1. Sue Nicholls, daughter of Lord Harmar-Nicholls
2. Nigel Havers, son of Lord Havers. An actor I’m familiar with, but didn’t know he was in Coronation Street!
Popular culture is entirely about one soap. Your favourite, Lord Norton?
My lord quizzer.
Cunning questionnaire, but won’t pass mustard:
‘Corry’ (alias Coronation Street) is itself merely a Sub-sub-sub-culture, within the Great multicultural Britain’s now worldwide Culture.
Therefore anything happening within it is at best sub-sub-sub-sub-cultural; and since any culture-bound question entitles the non-culturee examinee to access the answers-in-the-back, the Parliaments’ Education Service should be lockstep-enabling us to find such essential democratic knowledge as this, chop-chop as it were.
Lord Norton, I believe the answers are as follows:
1. Sue Nicholls, daughter of the late Lord Harmar-Nicholls.
2. Nigel Havers, son of the the late Lord Havers and nephew of Baroness Butler-Sloss.
Congratulations to Chris K and Frank Young, who are this week’s winners. They got in ahead of Jonathan (delayed by having to do some research!) and Nick. The answers are indeed Sue Nicholls (daughter of the late Lord Harmar-Nicholls) and Nigel Havers (son of the late Lord Havers and nephew of Baroness Butler-Sloss).
Jonathan: I must confess that I don’t watch ‘Coronation Street’, at least not since the days of Ena Sharples, Elsie Tanner and Hilda Ogden. It was a friend who suggested the question! I didn’t know Nigel Havers was in it either until he told me.
Am I correct, though, in recalling that Sue Nicholls was in (the original) ‘Crossroads’?
I will admit to having had to do some research too, albeit less than usual(!) I knew the first answer despite never having watched a single episode!
According to Wikipedia, “She first became known as Marilyn Gates in the soap Crossroads, a role she played from 1964 to 1968.”
Please:
How could one find these Quiz topics, and thereby possible answers thereto ?
(a) within the Parliaments’ websites;
(b) within the Web;
(c) from other Places ?
ChrisK and Jonathan have succeeded when neither had ever watched ‘Coronation Street’; but don’t say how/where they searched;
but later (1839 Sunday) Jonathan did mention ‘Wikipedia’, so (provisionally) thank you for that.
Has any-one suggested a more current-affairs-like practical ‘Democracy’ or ‘Parliament’ quiz, which all levels of The People could achieve some awareness from and possibly some actual interactive participation in ?
Also, following that level of question up-wards, how many websites would we need, in order to cope with the undoubtedly many levels of The People should they begin to democratically-participate in greater numbers than at present via The Lords of the Blog ?
(I suggest this latter question represents a greatly-higher Order matter than that facing the Electoral Commission over the recent summary (‘kangaroo-court’) dis-enablement of hundreds of British voters who had turned up at Polling Stations and were actually civilly queued up in advance of the Closing Time).
I knew Q1 by pure chance from watching ‘The Lords’ Tale’ which I have on tape and is also on youtube. I think it was Lord Westbury who said “Lord Harmer-Nicholls’s daughter is in Coronation Street” and I remembered the name.
Q2 I just had to scour the internet for. Lord Norton’s hint was “I *now* also star” so I just searched for recent additions to Coronation street and researched any of the actors’ famous relations.
Chris K:
To millions of career-ists, such life-frame research as that would soar them into higher ‘pay-levels’!
Well done; thank you.
So that is where Nigel Havers disappeared to!
His father, Lord Chancellor in the HofL was a man of immense charm rip.
jsdm. LN goes to a lot of effort to fend off insults from those who are interested in the content of Parliament and not so much the ceremony and personalities of it, and a lot of effort to think up the questions!
I am hopeless at it, but I do enjoy getting the occasional one right, and NOT submitting the answer!
G
The Content of Parliament, and of its Roots outside, is of first, second, third, fourth and fifth order-of-importance to Us, to The People.
The robes and ceremony ?
When I was a boy-cub it was explained to me with loving and loyal clarity and smiling slowness, that each button on a ‘flunkies’ uniform, for instance riding ‘shotgun’ on the Royal Coach, stands for so-many-lives sacrificed in the Name of the British State and the British Nation;
and not at all for the Abilities or Living-World statuses of the wearers neither individually nor as a Set.
(I shall continue believing-in that simple and satisfyingly-profound education, and in its spirit of Life itself: ‘regardless’).
“The Content of Parliament, and of its Roots outside, is of first, second, third, fourth and fifth order-of-importance to Us, to The People”
That is just not so. as one not so learned woman MP remarked after about 4 years in that place.
“The only trouble with making laws is that everybody has to obey them, not just the people you were thinking of when you made it!”
Pardon the language again; it’s the weather.
“Ha Blutty Ha!”