Jo Grimond and Brief Encounter

The Times has an article today to mark the centenary of the birth of the actress Celia Johnson. It is written by her daughter Kate Grimond.

Grimond?

Yes, it turns out that she is married to Johnnie Grimond, the middle child of the Liberal leader. There are more family details - including names like Ian Fleming and Helena Bonham Carter - on the IMDB entry for Kate Grimond.

BritBlog Roundup 153 - At last!

Sorry for the delay: let's get right on with it.

A lot of political postings have been submitted this week, so we begin with them.

Politics

These days it isn't enough just to type. Gavin Whenman offers the latest Realpolitik Podcast and Tim Ireland makes his submission on the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act in the form of a slide show with sound.

Other podcast related posts submitted were a daily roundup on The Wardman Wire and the highlights of 2007 from Wolverhampton Politics,

Writing from a less technological age when a copier breakdown involved a sobbing monk, Archbishop Cranmer is not impressed with the idea of Tony Blair as President of Europe.

And from another planet, some would say, Melanie Phillips thinks the mainstream media have ignored the story of the century: an Al Qaeda plot to assassinate the Queen. Meanwhile Ben Brogan points to Tory Confusion over Northern Rock.

Justin McKeating (who seems to be having problems with his Chicken Yoghurt blog) writes on Chicken Backup about the huge waste of money that was Peter Hain's deputy leadership campaign (he finished fifth):

It would take the vast majority of people decades to earn these sums. Hain threw about more cash in order to polish his ego than a lot of people's houses are worth. He thought two hundred grand was a price worth paying to get people to like him a bit more than they did Hazel Blears. How hard can that be for God's sake? When you look at the breakdown of the deputy leadership vote, you'd bet Gary Glitter could have beaten Blears with no grander inducements offered than a couple of rounds of drinks and a bag of crisps.

Gavin's Gaily Gigest writes on party funding. And, inspired by the news that Helena Bonham-Carter has purchased the former home of her great grandfather H. H. Asquith, Eaten by Missionaries looks at the homes of other Liberal prime ministers.

Sport

Paul Linford would love it if Kevin Keegan brought success to Newcastle United again.

St. Aidan to Abbey Manor points out that we now have a stupid attitude to risk: "It's either obsessive safety, or extreme sports."

English Buildings spots a pleasing architectural detail in Leicester Square, marking the former office of Wisden, the cricketers' bible.

And Amused Cynicism discovers that owners of vintage Ford cars cannot use photos of their own vehicles without being sued by the man.

Sex

I thought that would wake you up.

The Burning Times gives Richard Littlejohn a well-deserved hoofing.

Scorpio Risen call for a new sexual revolution while Stroppy Blog defends an old one.

My London, Your London reviews a play in which the women of the Old Testament finally get their revenge.

And Philobiblon looks at the prostitution laws in New Zealand and Sweden.

Culture

A nice broad category to take in all the other nominations.

Let's begin with Archaeoastronomy, who tells us that a funding freeze could damage what is possibly the most successful heritage project of the past decade - the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Amused Cyncism (again) takes on the deletionists on Wikipedia. Also online, Camden Kiwi offers a thoughtful defence of Facebook against recent criticism:

If all your friends are on Facebook, and your main way of interacting with them is via Facebook then you would have a big problem. But if you use it, as most people seem to, as just another tool, then it is hardly such an issue.

On this note, Diamond Geezer has just welcomed the first visitor of 2008 to his flat.

Back to all too tangible forms of media: Barkingside 21 reports on Project Freesheet, which is an attempt to make the publishers of the things pay for the mess they make.

The Daily (Maybe) discusses "the Third World" and similar labels: "my preference is to avoid terms that are essentially meaningless phrases designed to disguise the inequities of the world".

And Peter Cranie decides that Liverpool is a European city. Maybe, but don't its problems in recent decades stem from the fact that it is an Atlantic port?

Goodbye

Sorry this was a day late. I think it was BT Broadband's fault.

The next Roundup will be at Philobiblon.

Nominations to britblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

Sir Archibald Sinclair and Thurso Castle

Inspired by the welcome news that Helena Bonham-Carter has purchased The Wharf at Sutton Courtney, which was once the home of her great grandfather H. H. Asquith, Iain Sharpe offers a survey of the current state of the homes of other Liberal prime ministers.

This brings to mind the extraordinary boyhood home of the Liberal leader Sir Archibald Sinclair (John Thurso's grandfather). My knowledge of it comes from a memory of reading the opening chapter of Gerard J. De Groot's Liberal Crusader: The Life of Sir Archibald Sinclair, though I will admit that it does sound just the sort of thing I would make up.

Indeed Thurso Castle did inspire an entry in Lord Bonkers' diary (see Wednesday). Fortunately, I have just found De Groot's book on Google Books and can be sure that I did not dream it all.

Sinclair was orphaned at an early age and lived at Thurso Castle, the home of his grandfather Sir Tollemache Sinclair. The castle was a gothic pile which had been reconstructed by Sir Tollemache to his own design and was notable for its orchestrion - a sort of mechanical organ which he loved to play.

Thurso Castle was damaged by a sea mine during the second world war and largely demolished in the 1950s as a result. Some claim that it was never particulary structurally sound in the first place.

The photograph of the ruins of Thurso Castle comes from the Fierce Romance blog. You can see a picture of the building as the young Archibald knew it on CastleUK.net.

House Points: The alternative Lib Dem short-list

My House Points column from this week's Liberal Democrat News.

Alumni alternatives

The air over Westminster is black with chickens coming home to roost. According to the Civil Aviation Authority they are stacked six deep as far away as Kettering. The Labour Party made such play of ‘sleaze’ in the 1990s that it was bound to come back to bite them in the bum one day. Now it has.

If you can hear an unfamiliar sound, it is probably John Major laughing his socks off.

As events are moving so quickly this week, let’s cross the road from the Palace of Westminster and visit Westminster School. The old pile is particularly relevant to Lib Dems at the moment because our leadership election is being conducted by two of its former pupils.

I suspect this tells us something unpalatable about the composition of our party and also about the success of state education in fostering social mobility. But those debates are for another day.

So if we have to be led by someone from Westminster School, let’s look at some other former pupils and see who else we could have.

Ruth Kelly and Tony Benn are obviously out, and Nigella Lawson’s family connections make her an unlikely leader too. But, as Asquith’s great granddaughter, Helena Bonham Carter has an impeccable Liberal pedigree.

Shane McGowan - lead singer of The Pogues and one of the less obvious former public school boys - would appeal to a certain sort of voter. But perhaps we would do better with the smoother approach of Flanders and Swann?

Lovers of the arts might want us to go for Martin Amis, John Gielgud or the great 17th-century composer Henry Purcell. And everybody has a soft spot for A. A. Milne. He would certainly be a safer bet than Kim Philby.

If we want to play safe and choose an established Liberal politician then we can choose between Lord John Russell, who was twice prime minister in the mid-nineteenth century, and Sir Charles Dilke. Dilke was the great hope of the radicals towards the end of that century, but his career foundered after a scandalous divorce case.

So, as a short-list, how about Helena Bonham Carter, A. A. Milne and Lord John Russell? I know which way I would vote.

Those Bonham Carters in full

As I often argue, the obituaries in the Daily Telegraph are the finest thing in the newspaper. It is worth registering for its website just to read them.

I have just come across the paper's obituary of Raymond Bonham Carter from January. He was the grandson of the Liberal prime minister Herbert Asquith, the son of "Bongie" Bonham Carter (who must have been a friend of Lord Bonkers) and the father of Helena.

All of which points to the pleasing fact that Helena Bonham Carter is Asquith's great granddaughter.