Badger

Here's something I found very cool although it won't mean much to anyone under 40: Back in Season 2, there was a character called General Robertson who was Lord Grantham's commanding officer. He did a scene where Robert was all excited about going to the front, only to be told that his return to active duty was more ceremonial than anything else, that basically they needed someone to go to military banquets and buck up morale. Anyway, the actor who played him is Jeremy Clyde who was the Jeremy of Chad and Jeremy. If you ever watch old "Dick Van Dyke Show" reruns, they played "The Redcoats" in a show which parodied Beatlemania.

It's a lovely ad, and the women look beautiful in it. I think the problem is the woman nursing a baby. I think that may violate FCC standards. I don't agree with those who say it's not being aired because the women aren't skinny.

I'm liking "Dr. Thorne" so far. Phoebe Nicholls, who played Lady Flintshire, is in it. So is Alison Brie from "Mad Men." Another good show to check out is "A Place to Call Home" which is an Australian show set in the early 1950's. Our PBS station runs it on Saturday evenings, but I believe you can also get it on ACORN.

Actually, the investment Robert made was a very good one on paper. However, the man who owned the company died, and his heirs pretty much ran it into the ground. The problem was that Robert had sunk all his money into it. The Fife princesses are good examples of women inheriting titles in their own right. They were granddaughters of King Edward VII. When their father married Princess Louise of Wales in 1889, he was the Earl of Fife. Queen Victoria made him Duke of Fife. He and Louise had two daughters, Lady Alexandra Duff in 1891 and Lady Maude in 1893. Queen Victoria recreated the title of Duke of Fife in 1900 with a special remainder allowing his daughters to succeed him. Alexandra did so in 1912. In 1906, King Edward VII made Louise the Princess Royal and elevated her daughters to the rank and style of Highness and Princess of the United Kingdom with precedence after Royal Highnesses. Alexandra became a Royal Highness when she married Prince Arthur of Connaught, who was the son and heir of HRH The Duke of Connaught. They had one son, Prince Alastair. After King George V limited the rank of Prince and Princess to grandchildren of the Monarch in the male line, he became Earl of MacDuff. Prince Arthur predeceased his father so Alastair became heir to both the titles of Duke of Fife and Duke of Connaught. He succeeded his grandfather in 1942, but died in 1943, predeceasing his mother. Maude married Lord Carnegie who was heir to the Earl of Southesk in 1923 and was generally referred to as Lady Maude Carnegie after that. They also had one son, The Hon. James Carnegie, born in 1929. Lord Carnegie became Earl of Southesk in 1941 Maude died in 1945 so James became heir to his aunt's title and his father's. Princess Arthur died in 1959 so he became Duke of Fife then. However, his father, the Earl of Southesk lived on until 1992. Upon his death, James's son David who had been using the courtesy title of Earl of MacDuff, began using the title of Earl of Southesk as his courtesy title. James died last year so David is now Duke of Fife and his eldest son Charles is Earl of Southesk. Regarding servants' baths, they probably used cold water for the most part. It was more than likely a case of get in, soap up, rinse off, get out. I imagine if they wanted to use hot water, they'd have to get permission from either Mr. Carson or Mrs. Hughes. Although Mary can never be Countess or Dowager Countess unless Henry gets a title, she can petition to have the precedence of the title after George inherits.

There was a scene, although it was never shown, where Lt. Courtenay indicated to Thomas that he had a big crush on Lady Sybil. I would love to know from Julian Fellowes if the unmarried male characters were meant to be celibate. They had prostitutes in Downton, and I imagine there were places that gay men and lesbians could go too. Did any of the men take advantage of that on their half-days?

They had 8 guys and 5 girls in Season 8.

In the "Mad Magazine" parody, at the end someone said, (Paraphrasing) "So the best way to get the guy is to dress like a slut?" "Wow, what a wonderful message for the youth of America!"

The little girl who played Emma in the episode about the lesbian moms later was a contestant on the first season of "The Voice."

Samantha Cameron is also the wife of the Prime Minister.

The only real backstory for Thomas is that his father, who he apparently had a difficult relationship with, was a clockmaker. He also had an older sister who was a friend of Baxter's.

The hallboys also did valet work for the upper male servants. There's a short scene last season where Thomas is reading the paper and one of the hallboys brings his shoes and puts them on him.

Jeremy Swift, the actor who plays Mr. Spratt, was also in it. Yeah, that was a great show. Another similar show is "Anzac Girls" which is about Australian and New Zealand nurses in WWI.

Regarding Madge, she's been in the show since Season 3 and has been shown a few times. However, she's never had any lines so she's easy to miss. I was wondering if they were going to address the subject about whether or not Carson and Mrs. Hughes planned to consummate their marriage. Companionate marriage was a thing back then. Ronald Colman and Greer Garson have one in "Random Harvest."

I love it too. It's always been one of my favorite childhood books, and I've always hated that we never see the real ending. For Downton Abbey fans, the actor who played the guy who was courting Lady Rosamund in the Season 2 Christmas special is in it. As for shows to watch, ITA about the original "Upstairs Downstairs." I'm not one who thinks it's better than DA or any more realistic, but I don't think DA could have been possible without an USDS. Quite possibly my favorite period show is BBC's "The Village" which ran for 2 series a year or so ago. It's about life in an English village from just before the start of WWI to the mid 20's through the eyes of one of its residents who is the oldest man in the UK. It was originally supposed to run for several more series and end up in the present day, but so far they haven't done any more filming. The actor who played the old man/narrator died either late 2014 or early last year too. Anyway, the show goes into pretty much the same territory as DA, but through the perspective of tenant farmers rather than the aristocracy although there is a rich family involved. Incidentally, the second series features what might possibly be one of the greatest FU! scenes of all time. I love it too. It's always been one of my favorite childhood books, and I've always hated that we never see the real ending. For Downton Abbey fans, the actor who played the guy who was courting Lady Rosamund in the Season 2 Christmas special is in it. As for shows to watch, ITA about the original "Upstairs Downstairs." I'm not one who thinks it's better than

ITV did their live production of "The Sound of Music Live" a couple Sunday's ago. Julian Ovendon played the Captain. But I thought the actor playing the butler looked familar too. It was Paul Copley who plays Mr. Mason on the show.

Bertie said the late Lord Hexham liked painting pictures of the boys of Tangiers. All in all, it was a very good ending. I was hoping there'd be a potential love interest for Thomas, and I was kind of hoping Daisy would say something about wanting to do something with her education before getting serious to Andy, but those were the only real quibbles I had. You could see Thomas's elevation to butler coming a mile away, but I was kind of surprised that it came about because of Mr. Carson's health and not because he and Mrs. Hughes had retired to run their business.

I think the only person who was really worried about the age difference was Stralian. It was the fact he was now disabled that was the sticky point for everyone else. I don't think he was considered a brilliant catch, more like someone you settled for if you were "damaged goods" like Mary or not a social success like Edith.

I don't think Edith helped much by telling him that taking care of him would be her life's work.

Well, my 2 favorites, Che and Reggie and Bollie are in, so I'm happy. Having said that, it will be a shock if anyone but Louisa wins.

Actually, the only time Thomas ever mentioned hating being in service was after the war was over. Frankly, a lot of returning military back then were disenchanted and wanted to get away from what they had been doing before the war. I think part of that was his being tired of being a footman but he's been promoted to temporary Senior Valet and now Underbutler so that's not an issue any more.

I think Thomas's story isn't quite finished. He went "to the brink" as Rob James-Collier has said, and now we need to see what happens now that he's made it through. He's not the only one who needs a final ending though. I was thinking Cassandra Jones would be Rosamund.

According to his aunt, Henry has noble ancestors but he's too far down for it to matter. His father was an MP so he grew up in London but spent summers in various country estates owned by relatives and/or friends. He's comfortably well-off, but not rich.

How about the fluffernutter? Peanut butter and marshmallow creme or fluff. Dogs love peanut butter too. At least our dogs all did.