Downton Abbey

[Vintagejazz]

I believe it's back on Sunday. Hurray!

I really hope though that they focus more on Edith and less on Mary and her boring, all look the samey, suitors.

Re weird point to point: they were all riding great big old Irish draughts which would be safe for the actors but not much good for point to point. Maybe the type of horses have changed since the 20s but having seen v early footage of the Grand National, I think not!

Most viewers (like me) wouldn't have had a clue about the horses.

Carson's bum must be pretty big

Carson's bum must be pretty big

I thought nothing could be worse than thinking about Bates making baby Bateses. But you've just come up with it.

Excuse me while I gouge out my mind's eye.

Moan, I thought the horses looked a bit ... workaday for a point-to-point too, but then thought that perhaps they'd just ride the horses they had already and they wouldn't be likely to own anything approaching racehorse types.

Explain the breakfast thing? Widows get a tray in bed but singletons must queue up at the buffet a la Premier Inn?

Yes, and married women are also allowed breakfast in bed.

I don't know why married men don't get that option.

I remember ages ago Poor Dead Cousin Matthew saying to Edith at breakfast that she might as well just have a tray in bed; meaning either that no one gave two hoots about the etiquette or, maybe, that she was clearly a lost cause marriage-wise so what did it matter any more.

When Lady Mary married Matthew, did she not lose her title (because he didn't have one yet)?

I always assumed that married Laydees were allowed brekkie in bed as they might be exhausted from having to fulfil their conjugal rights during the night?

Mind. Maybe ... but it doesn't explain why Mary as a widow is still allowed it.

Actually, Edith could be Dorothy L. Sayers. She had a son out of wedlock. Her aunt and cousin brought him up and DLS referred to him as her nephew. It only came out in her will 40+ years later that he was in fact her son. Very sad.

Can I join in? Sorry, haven't read the whole thing but.... Is it just me that wonders if Thomas shoved Green under the tram/ bus??

greetings

Explain your evidence Detective Inspector JR

Right, the internet has two theories about unmarried women and breakfast:

1 They didn't have breakfast in bed because, until they got to a certain age anyway, their parents were responsible for them and them appearing at breakfast was a way for Dad to make sure they'd got home safe the previous night (and presumably check for love bites etc ).

2 Long-term, older unmarried daughters were considered not to be useful' to the household as they didn't have money and were looking more and more likely not to make a good marriage and bring in money that way, so they should come down to group breakfast rather than use up the 'resources' (staff) who would be needed to take them breakfast in bed and take it away.

Nice.

Well, nagging in the back of my mind is that he clocked the comings and goings on the night of the attack but didn't do anything. No box set so can't check up and similarly can't remember where he was on the day that Green died. He has also shown himself several times to be a much better and braver person than he'd have everyone believe and prone to guilt.... All of which points to him being quite capable of doing it if the opportunity presented itself as although not told and ostensibly an enemy of Bates I'm pretty sure he knew. Also ramping up the Bates feud as he does is good cover.

Also, he was a big man and I think a woman could only have done it if she had really caught him unawares, which he wasn't as he said "What are you doing here?" A line which also suggests he wasn't worried by whoever he saw, which would also tie in with Thomas.

Happy to be shot down by anyone with a better memory or a box set ;-)

Lady mary is still lady Mary as that is her title in her own right.

Just happened that she married someone with the same surname so she's still Lady Mary Crawley.

Sybil was Lady Sybil Branson.

I can't believe none of you have Debrett's bookmarked for such an occasion! What sort of people do you hang around with normally?!

www.debretts.com/forms-address/titles/earl-and-countess/daughters-earl

Great idea about Dorothy L Sayers, Allmimsy!

that's a great weblink!

I have decided 'lady wildings' has a naice ring to it!

'Wildlings'
tsk, I can't even spell my own name..

Ha! Good work Dino - nice to know what's good and proper innit?

There's a scene in the film Gosford Park, screen play by JF, in which the unmarried daughter of the house is made to come down to breakfast, as opposed to having it in her room, the morning after her father has been murdered. I supposed letting bereaved young women have a tray in bed would be the thin edge of the wedge.

I think there's a mistake there:

"On marriage she continues to use the same style, with her husband's surname. For example, if the Earl of Aldford's daughter Lady Daisy Browne married Nathaniel Watkins she would become Lady Alicia Watkins."

Or do Daisys become Alicias on marriage?

And why did Thomas suddenly ask Baxter to come with him to the docs? Surely he doesn't have a conscience, as it was him that wrote the note to the police suggesting she had a part in it?

I don't know, but why does Daisy become Alicia?