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Telly addicts

A Very British Scandal - BBC1

223 replies

southeastdweller · 26/12/2021 19:18

On tonight at 9.00, it stars Claire Foy and it's from the same people who did A Very English Scandal a few years ago.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0b568sr

OP posts:
SchadenfreudePersonified · 29/12/2021 10:36

It is fraud. Called defrauding creditors and it is criminal.
Can only think that the statute of limitations came into play because it was 15 years after the loan was given

I'd wondered about that, too.

He was offering collateral which effectively no longer belonged to him

Even among vile people, he was outstandingly foul.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 29/12/2021 10:41

@sansucre

It wasn't just the forged letter that enraged the Duke, it was the simple fact he couldn't obtain any further money from the Duchess (and her father). Ian had married her for money, and when no more was forthcoming, he had to divorce her, much like he had his previous wives when their coffers also dried up. In Ian's eyes, Margaret (and probably women in general) were only as good as the money she could bring to the marriage.

Margaret's affairs were largely incidentally, and a means for him to divorce her, which he could do so once he had proof in the form of those photographs. Many of the supposed 88 lovers were gay men, and as homosexuality was still illegal at that time, Margaret didn't out them otherwise they would have faced persecution. I feel strongly that it was Margaret's enjoyment of sex that was on trial, rather than her adultery. The judgement rather delivered on this.

While neither were likeable people, it is easy to overlook that Margaret was a loyal friend to her Peter Combe and her other male 'walkers' and never told who the headless man was. Neither did she ever admit what 'v' meant. Imagine going through all this, having your sex life raked over by the courts, printed in the press all over the world and being vilified for enjoying sex, particularly oral sex. Yet she steadfastly refused to talk about any of it or betray others. To me, this shows a woman with at least a modicum of integrity, presence of mind and great discretion.

I agree.

She wasn't "nice", but she certainly want the rapacious monster she was portrayed to be.

It seems that she adored her children and did her best to give them stability when her marriage ended (and the Duke's children from his previous marriages, too), and I've read accounts she was remarkably generous towards her staff (giving Christmas bonuses etc - and not just a couple of quid!)

The duke seemed to have no redeeming features whatsoever.

jamandmarmaladethesecondcoming · 29/12/2021 11:31

[quote Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]@jamandmarmaladethesecondcoming, no, he was a qualified medical practitioner who worked with Alexander Fleming during the war. His name was Dr John Petro and he had many society clients in the late 50s and 60s. At that time he would have been able to prescribe many things which are illegal now, and many of his clients would have become dependent on them, just like the opiates crisis in the US now. A few years after the divorce case he fell on hard times and started flagrantly abusing the system by prescribing drugs to all and sundry, and he was prosecuted and struck off the medical register. His case was one of the reasons the UK government clamped down on drugs in the late 60s, for all the good that's done us.

[Amazing what five minutes on Google can throw up!][/quote]
@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Yes i know he was a qualified medical practitioner. So was Shipman.

Petro portrayed in the film was found by Margaret in a club and it was heavily implied that he dished out pills to clients willing to pay and was exploiting the vulnerable.

I feel sorry for Margaret. He used her for money then hung her out to dry.

GreenClock · 29/12/2021 11:47

The barrister was the useless cyclist husband in Motherland too.

ExquisitelyDecorated · 29/12/2021 12:09

David Cameron's brother, who looks a lot like him, is a QC. He was acting for the defence when I did jury service about 15 years ago and I kept thinking "he looks familiar" but didn't put two and two together with the name, another juror twigged and told us all.

YourenutsmiLord · 29/12/2021 14:14

In fact, an exception to trans-identification is inheritance of a title. The House of Lords stood very firm on that.

Yes, not surprisingly - didn't want all those wimmin changing sex and getting their dibs on the inheritance.

woodhill · 29/12/2021 20:09

@SchadenfreudePersonified

It is fraud. Called defrauding creditors and it is criminal. Can only think that the statute of limitations came into play because it was 15 years after the loan was given

I'd wondered about that, too.

He was offering collateral which effectively no longer belonged to him

Even among vile people, he was outstandingly foul.

Yes, why couldn't he be prosecuted for committing fraud. Also he didn't seem to be heavily questioned
longwayoff · 29/12/2021 21:54

The likelihood of His Grace Duke Grabitall being questioned, let alone prosecuted, by the police at that time is fantasy. Her father would not have considered it, given what he feared could be revealed about his daughter, and ranks would have closed against him. He would have been cast out. It's not the actual behaviour that upsets our betters, it's that we plebs might find out about it and fail to give them their due deference. For illustration, I refer everyone to the Lucan affair, the murder of Sandra Rivett, the suicide of Dominic Elwes and the miserable life of the ostracized and traduced Lady Lucan. Miss Rivett's murder was viewed as a bloody inconvenience and the absent Lucan as a man hard done by. After all, what's a man to do with a wife like that? It was sickening to see the entitled close ranks and prevent the investigation progressing. Like the Mafia. Not so different.

woodhill · 29/12/2021 21:57

How could he afford to divorce his other 2 wives?

longwayoff · 29/12/2021 22:58

Don't know about the first Aitken wife but the second, OuiOui Louise, divorced him. She said he'd spent everything but her trust fund. Uncontested divorces presumably.

Romeiswheretheheartis · 29/12/2021 23:17

Just finished watching this. I wasn't sure why she actually took the photo - does anyone know?

Frazzled2207 · 29/12/2021 23:33

@Romeiswheretheheartis

Just finished watching this. I wasn't sure why she actually took the photo - does anyone know?
Also wondering!
AntisocialJusticeWarrior · 29/12/2021 23:35

Sorry to mention this again but this article caught my eye when I was looking up something else. Angry

”Can you imagine what it would be like, honestly, to have a bunch of lawyers go through every one of your emails and texts for 10 years? All I can tell you is that it was an unpleasant feeling.”

amp.theguardian.com/film/2021/dec/27/paul-bettany-johnny-depp-text-messages-read-libel-trial

JemimaTab · 29/12/2021 23:41

@Romeiswheretheheartis

Just finished watching this. I wasn't sure why she actually took the photo - does anyone know?
I thought it was just that she liked to collect momentos of her trysts? Like in the first episode when it looked like she took the man’s cuff links after they slept together and put them in her desk.
jamandmarmaladethesecondcoming · 30/12/2021 04:51

@woodhill

How could he afford to divorce his other 2 wives?
He'd already spent all of their money before he discarded them. He chose those with money and married in quick succession. So, he never had to use his own money for anything.
jamandmarmaladethesecondcoming · 30/12/2021 04:52

@woodhill sorry forgot to tag

longwayoff · 30/12/2021 06:55

Why the photo? Polaroid cameras were an exciting new and very expensive invention. The first means of obtaining an instant selfie.

YourenutsmiLord · 30/12/2021 07:35

Maybe keeping the records and photos made it all the more thrilling - because of the risk of being caught with them.

woodhill · 30/12/2021 14:28

[quote jamandmarmaladethesecondcoming]@woodhill sorry forgot to tag[/quote]
Thanks, but how did he get away with not paying any costs for the divorce itms as didn't he have to pay maintenance or did the wives still have independent means.

What a crook

slaybellsringing · 30/12/2021 14:29

Phew just finished watching it.

My hair on the back of my neck was prickling when she took to the stand in a court full of only men (except the clerk), snickering at her sexual behaviour being described.

I really felt that in the feminist part of my gut. Poor woman and what a bastard he was.

lazymum99 · 30/12/2021 15:59

The son of the Duke was not exactly a goodun. There was a fire in 1975 and he raised money from all the Campbells around the world to fix it. Then it was discovered that he was one of the richest men in the UK with a fortune of about 87 million. Would not like to be related to that lot.
His brother, the younger one in the tv show is the one who married the woman on I’m a celebrity (lady Colin Campbell)

SoonbeSpringtime · 30/12/2021 16:25

I was wondering how Lady CC came into it. Mind you that marriage only lasted a few months didn't it.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 30/12/2021 16:43

@lazymum99

The son of the Duke was not exactly a goodun. There was a fire in 1975 and he raised money from all the Campbells around the world to fix it. Then it was discovered that he was one of the richest men in the UK with a fortune of about 87 million. Would not like to be related to that lot. His brother, the younger one in the tv show is the one who married the woman on I’m a celebrity (lady Colin Campbell)
I was just going to mention this Lazymum

Put out a worldwide weepy plea for cash to resore the old pile, and was inundated with money from lost Campbells the world over.

Apparently when it came out that he was loaded, a lot of them asked for their money back.

(Bet they didn't get it . . . )

Pl242 · 30/12/2021 17:47

Like a PP said, I adored Margaret’s clothes in this.

absolutelynotfabulous · 30/12/2021 19:11

I've ordered myself (on Amazon) a three-string pearl necklace. Grin.

Just finished reading "Duchess Who Dared", an account of Margaret's life.