The House of Lords has members who are appointed because of their eminence in their chosen fields. Some are well-known public figures, such as Robert Winston, Michael Grade, Melvyn Bragg, Joan Bakewell, Alan Sugar and Andrew Lloyd-Webber. However, some have family members who are even better known than they are. This week’s quiz is therefore devoted to identifying peers with famous relatives. As usual, the first two readers to supply the correct answers will be the winners.
1. A late Lord Chancellor was arguably much less well known than his son, who is a famour actor. Who was the peer?
2. The stepson of a current member of the House was married to one of the nation’s most famous female pop stars. Who is the peer?
3. One peer is in the same field as his son, but whereas the peer pursued an academic career, his son chose to work for the BBC and is rarely off our television screens. Who is the peer?
1) Lord Havers
2) Not sure
3) Lord Peston, got to be.
1. Lord Havers
2. Baroness Ritchie
3. Lord Peston
1. Lord Havers (father of Nigel Havers)
3. Lord Peston, economist (father of Robert Peston)
I’ll have to come back to no. 2. It’s hard without knowing which era this female pop star is from…
Incidentally, I think Julian Lloyd Webber is an example of a famous relative, rather than a peer, although in this case the peer in question is arguably even more famous.
1. Lord Havers
2. Baroness Ritchie of Brompton? (Depending on how ‘one of the nation’s’ is interpreted)
3. Lord Peston
The answers are, indeed, the late Lord Havers (father of Nigel Havers), Baroness Ritchie of Brompton (formerly Madonna’s stepmother-in-law), and Lord Peston (father of Robert Peston). Congratulations therefore to Emmy and JH who were the first to supply the three correct answers.
Jonathan: I’ve cheated and made the correction.
JH: You don’t know how long it took me to think of the wording for question 2!
I would never have thought of Madonna as being “one of the nation’s” anything. Had you omitted the word “nation’s” I might have been in with a chance, although I’ll admit I didn’t know the connection to Baroness Ritchie.
Being a knower of people as I am, and having missed this quiz all together, I can only claim to have dined with Lord Havers when he was LC, difficult as it was for him,(to be LC that is) and to have had a natter with Madonna in Shaftesbury High St one morning, four or five years ago, when she accepted my thanks, for being the dancing inspiration for healing this broken leg of mine. The connection I was not aware of.
Robert Peston has a style of delivery which many people,including my gentle self, find it not to imitate!!!
At least I knew Madonna was a singer of some description.