HerlockSholmes

Her Majesty had a mention in another thread so I thought that I’d just list a few examples of the strange world of the Queen. ....... The house where the Queen was born is now an upmarket Cantonese restaurant. She became a house owner at the age of 6 when the people of Wales gave her a house in the grounds of Royal Windsor Lodge. She is the only person in the U.K. who is not required to own a driver’s license. She is not allowed to enter the House Of Commons (where Parliament sits) She’d had 14 Prime Ministers during her reign. From Churchill to Johnson. And 13 US Presidents. For the first 10 years of her life she was a fairly minor Royal (similar to Princess Beatrice) until her Grandfather died. Her family nickname ‘Lilibet’ was given to her by her sister Margaret. The Queen and Prince Phillip shared the same great great Grandparents (Victoria and Albert) and so were 3rd cousins. Her ‘official’ surname is Windsor-Mountbatten. She doesn't need a passport to travel. All whales, dolphins and swans around the UK belong to her. She has an apartment in New York. It’s said that she uses her bag as a signal to her staff. If she puts it on a table it means she wants to leave within 5 minutes. If she puts it on the floor it means that she wants to be ‘rescued’ from the conversation. She’s sat for 129 portraits during her reign. She’s woken every morning by a Bagpiper who has the title ‘Bagpiper To The Sovereign.’ Its always been a rule that no one but a fellow Royal is allowed to touch the Monarch though it’s pretty much ignored these days. If you are dining with the Queen and she stops eating then everyone else stops too. The Crown Estates are worth around £14,000,000,000. 80% of people alive in the U.K. weren’t born when she became Queen (myself included) Her personal wealth is around £340,000,000 but she doesn’t make the top 300 wealthiest in the U.K. She can trace her family tree back 1400 years.

No problem Kat👍 Ive been meaning to buy a book on the history of the clubs but I’ve been put off by the fact that the book that appears to be the best on the subject is really expensive. It certainly seems strange to us in 2021 that these establishments are still ‘men only’ but, as we all know, traditions can take a long time to die out (if ever.) Ive never been in one of these clubs but I believe that some of them have guided tours. I’ve certainly stood outside of some of them when I’ve been in London especially when I’ve been on walking tours. White’s is a well known stopping point with it’s famous bow window where Beau Brummell used to sit and watch the passers by. Boodle’s is further along the same street. The Queen isn’t allowed in The House Of Commons btw. That goes back nearly 400 years.

I use my iPad mainly. Occasionally my phone which is android.

I hate auto-correct. I should have checked before clicking ‘submit reply.’ I post on another site where one of the true crime cases that we discuss has a character called Parry which auto-correct tends to change to Party. I’m forever having to Edit.

That right. When the Lord Mayor is chosen hardly anyone will have heard of him. If you go to London now and ask people who is the Mayor a fair few will name Sadie Khan. Ask them who the Lord Mayor is and you’ll see shoulders being shrugged. I’d take a guess that many people wouldn’t be aware that there are 2 mayors.

Similar. You have to have occupied a position which required you being elected by the public (councillor) to be made an Alderman or Sheriff and then Lord Mayor. If the Prime Minister decides to step down then it’s his own party who votes on who becomes the next party leader and PM. They aren’t required to hold an election but the opposition parties would undoubtedly call for one claiming that the new PM had no mandate. The PM will then ignore them and carry on. Its all tactical. When Tony Blair stood down and Gordon Brown was elected Labour Party leader and PM many of his advisors advised him to call a General Election. The Tories were weak at the time and he was personally popular. He chickened out. Then when he was actually obliged to call one he’d lost popularity and the Tories were in a stronger position. He lost. If he’d have called one when he was advised to he would almost certainly have won and had 2 more years in office with a chance to rebuild his popularity.

A Gentleman today just means a person of good manners but back then it was a man of ‘good birth.’ Even the wealthy businessmen would have been looked down on by the aristocracy. To them having to earn a living 9n whatever way just meant’ lower birth.’ The Clubs were originally for those of aristocratic blood and even after The Reform Act of 1832, which gave more men the vote, the newly rich still weren’t welcomed so they starting forming their own clubs.

We have what are called Local Elections every couple of years where councillors are voted into office. So while the Conservative Party are currently in Government a local council can be run by a different party. The area where I live has pretty much always been run by Labour.

The London Clubs were certainly men only and began mainly as venues for gambling which was illegal on the ‘outside.’ Initially there were only a few like Boodle’s, Brooks’s and White’s all of which still survive today. White’s is the oldest as it was founded in 1693. All very exclusive of course with waiting lists to become members. The Athenaeum still exists and is has been suggested as Doyle’s model for the Diogenes but he never said if this was true or not. I can’t be certain why it’s called The Stranger’s Room but I’ve always assumed it was because members of the club became members because they didn’t want to speak to each other but someone might visit the club to speak to one of them. These non- members were classed as ‘strangers’ and so they needed a room to speak to members.

I’m not certain how they get to be either although I believe that it’s by nomination. The person has to be a local councillor (minor official) The title comes from an Anglo-Saxon word ‘ealdorman.’ I saw a documentary a few months ago but I’ve forgotten some of the details. The title Sheriff comes from Shire Reeve. Reeve being a title and Shire being...well you’ve read The Lord Of The Rings.🙂 Im 55 and when I talk to someone in their 20’s or 30’s it makes me feel a bit older. Just think how the English feel when we tell an American that The Worshipful Order Of Fishmongers got their Royal Charter in 1272.😮 And even then it was in existence in some form probably 100 years before that. I bet you can imagine me sitting here covered in cobwebs.😃 Our joke candidates are entirely independent. We also have Independent non-joke candidates some of whom formerly represented a party but have decided to strike out on their own for whatever reasons. Maybe they fell out with their party over some policy? Some campaign on ‘issues’ like Lawrence Fox does. The Independents have far less chance of success because they tend to struggle for financial backing for promotion and advertising and they rarely get asked on tv or radio for Interviews. Fox has a slight advantage of course because a) he’s known, and b) I believe that he’s getting some financial backing from someone (I believe it’s someone that donates to the Conservative Party.) He’s also campaigning about things that a lot of people are concerned about like the rise of Political Correctness so he has an ‘audience.’ He still has no chance of winning though. To be fair most Independents are fully aware that they have no chance of winning but they use the campaign to get issues that are important onto the agenda so that the Parties in power (Conservative and Labour mainly) can’t ignore them.

The Livery companies are just ceremonial they due stuff like promote the industry that they represent, regulate it, promote training of apprentices and such. Im unsure who pays for the Mansion House and staff but I assume that it’s the City Of London. Very few people actually live in the Square Mile these days. They work and go home to Greater London. If you walk through the Square Mile on a Sunday morning it’s a bit like a ghost town. Whenever we have elections we always have joke candidates. The most famous being The Monster Raving Loony Party mentioned by Besleybean and Count BinFace. You had Donald Trump of course.😃

On the subject of the Livery Companies/Trade Guilds here are a few sayings that we use that came from them (maybe🙂) http://cityandlivery.co.uk/the-city-explained/sayings-associated-with-the.html

It looks like there are 20 candidates although I’d suggest that Count Binface hasn’t much chance of success (although he’d get my vote.)😀 Jeremy Corbyn’s older brother is apparently running. Sadie Khan appears to be strong favourite to be re-elected as you say Besley bean.

The Lord Mayor has to be a city Alderman and has to have served as City Sheriff (a largely ceremonial role with only minimal duties) He’s elected by show of hands by members of the various Livery Companies (which are the 110 ancient trade guilds - The Guild Of Fishmongers for example.) He’s paid over £150,000 per year but a tour guide once told me that he has to pay for all of his (extensive) travel and for any functions at the Mansion House ( certainly far from cheap!) So basically the elected Lord Mayor has to have plenty of £ in the bank.

It’s because there is The City Of London, known as the Square Mile which is the financial district at the centre of London and Greater London which is the rest. The Mayor of London is a political appointment voted into office by Londoners. Current incumbent is Sadie Khan who is a Labour politician. He took over after Boris. This is the job that Lawrence Fox is after but won’t get. The Lord Mayor Of London represents the City Of London only. The current incumbent is William Russell who is, believe it or not, the 692nd Lord Mayor. His role is basically to promote business (mainly finance) Every year on November 9th there’s a Lord Mayor’s Parade. He gets to live in the Mansion House. Lots of tradition attached to this as you would expect. If the Queen enters the City Of London there’s a ceremony where the Lord Mayor hands over a sword signifying that he’s showing the Queen that she’s the Boss.

Fox is a controversial figure over here but, as besleybean said, he’s got no chance of becoming Mayor. London has 2 Mayor’s of course and he’s only eligible to try to become one. I agree with some of the things that he says (mainly about the spread of political correctness and the suggestion that we should all walk around ‘hanging our heads in shame’ for events in our history) but he’s also of the group that are outraged that masks and restrictions are insufferable infringements on our freedom. And so while many will agree with some of the things that he says I don’t think that he’ll escape being tarred with the ‘looney’ brush. Plus, some people just aren’t keen on posh boys.😃

Thanks Hikari. I’ve heard of Dexter but I’ve never seen it.

I have to admit to being momentarily excited. Was this an episode of House that I hadn’t seen? The beginning of a series 9? No😪 http://jeromewetzeltv.blogspot.com/2012/10/house-born-again-season-9-premiere.html

Ahh so that’s the reason for Kutner’s completely out of the blue suicide. That’s one mystery answered. 👍 Now tell me why Cuddy didn’t make an appearance in the final episode?😃

That’s a good point about Amber. When House was interviewing (torturing?) potential replacements for Foreman, Chase and Cameron I expected Amber to be one of those chosen as House would have admired the qualities that led him to name her Cutthroat Bitch. A willingness to do whatever was needed including lying and rule-breaking. It was the reason that he went on to fire Masters and why he clashed so often with Cameron. Another surprise was that she went on to become Wilson’s girlfriend. She seemed an odd choice for the nice guy who was basically House’s ‘conscience.’ Like Mary Morstan she died but there was another twist of course in that Wilson blamed House for her death (at least for a time.) That Lisa Edelstein is an attractive woman. You’ll get no argument from me on that score but she did tend to dress like Marilyn Monroe, drawing countless comments from House who loved to push the boundaries of ‘acceptability.’ Although Holmes was no respecter of authority and rank he was certainly courteous to women. No one was immune from House’s barbs. Look what Foreman had to put up with. After I’ve gone through the next Sherlock to look for Canon references I though that I might try and list the references in House. I can’t watch the whole series again though. Not yet.😀

If I had to name a ‘the woman’ it would have to be Cuddy. It was an ongoing ‘will they’ ‘wont they’ relationship but, like Irene Adler, she was also an adversary constantly trying to get him to do the parts of his job that he saw as boring and lacking in challenge. Two other missing Holmes characters were a Moriarty and a Mycroft. Early on I thought that Vogler might have been his Moriarty but he didn’t last (and it was actually Cuddy that got rid of him) There was also no Mycroft figure. House was always cleverer than everyone else. He did bring in the detective character of course who might be seen as his ‘Irregular?’ Obviously there was no Mrs Hudson character either of course.

Hi Arcadia, He certainly wasn’t the easiest character to like but there were moments where we saw glimpses of the more human side of House. He consciously tried suppressing this though as, like Holmes, he saw himself as a brain; a solver of puzzles. I always thought that it was strange when I heard people say “I’m hooked on Game Of Thrones,” or Breaking Bad or anything but I certainly got hooked on House so that I was genuinely sad (not heartbroken, couldn’t eat or sleep sad of course) when I got to the end. I said in an earlier post that I don’t think that I’d like to see House return as Wilson is now dead. But then again..... “Everybody lies.” 😃👍

It was possibly some simple explanation like that Carol. It just seemed a huge omission for me. Maybe only for me?

I’ve never ‘binge-watched’ anything in my life but it’s the only way that I can describe the way I’ve watched House. I’ve just watched the final episode - number 177 Everybody Dies and I have to say that I’m already feeling that there’s a House-shaped hole in my life.🙁 I don’t usually get absorbed in TV shows or movies ( unless it’s you-know-who of course) but I became totally absorbed in House. I pretty much loved everything about it; especially the characters. House is a complex figure and one that you can easily imagine yourself wanting to strangle if you actually knew him in real life but I still found myself having sympathy for him and even really liking him. The similarities to Holmes are very obvious of course - he’s a genius, he’s an addict, he gets bored easily, he sees people/patients as problems to solve. He’s a loner who hates anything that he can’t explain (or have at least a measure of control over) He’s totally unimpressed by status or authority; he’s incapable of diplomacy he’s unconventional and he likes to shock. And he’s sarcastic and funny. What’s not to like? The other characters are great too. Especially his Watson (Wilson) As Hikari said the characters change over the years but I still found something in all of them. Whether it was Masters, Cuttler, Taub, Thirteen or Amber (or Cutthroat Bitch as House charmingly named her) Usually when something like this ends I tend to hope that it will be revisited at some point in the future but I don’t think that I would want to see House without Wilson but viewers are left with a massive question. What would happen to House and how would he cope when the time came that he lost his only friend? We will never know. This is one of the best things ive ever watched. No doubt I’ll ‘revisit’ at some point in the future. Even last night after the final episode ended I watched the first few minutes of the first episode again which was like watching an old family video. Can you become nostalgic that quickly? I’d recommend House to anyone who hasn’t seen it. One question ...... there was one huge gap in the last episode where we had lots of old characters making an appearance alongside all of the important characters in House’s life.....Cuddy. Why didn’t she make some kind of appearance? Her absence was an issue for me. Was there some kind of falling out with Lisa Edelstein?

I just looked it up Carol and it started as the British Film Academy in 1947 founded by Alexander Korda, Charles Laughton, David Lean, Carol Reed, Roger Manuel and others. The ‘television’ part was added in 1976. BAFTA hand out the usual awards like Best Film, Best Actor etc but they also give 2 special awards. One is a BAFTA Fellowship first awarded in 1971 to Hitchcock. Other winners have been David Lean, Charlie Chaplin, Lawrence Olivier, Richard Attenburgh, Stephen Spielberg, Frederico Fellini, Michael Caine, John Thaw and most recently Siobhan Reddy (who I’ve never heard of,) Also theres the Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema Award won by names like The Monty Python team, Kenneth Branagh, The Harry Potter Film Series and Andy Serkis. The most recent winner being Noel Clarke who I’d never heard of but clicking on his name I found that he’s the actor that played Mickey (Billie Piper’s boyfriend) in David Tennant’s Dr Who.