The Gentleman's Gentleman

[anteros_lmc]

Does anyone know the connection between....

Private Pike, Dad's Army

... and ...

Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane

Over the weekend I came across a BBC 2 programme called Maid in Britain, "a look at how domestic servants have been portrayed on television, from The Forsyte Saga in the 60s to Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs today." I'm not sure why I watched it as I am sooooo not a fan of domestic costume dramas, and I wasn't familiar with many of the programmes mentioned. (Apart from Brideshead Revisited. Of course.) At one stage the programme featured an interview with the elderly screen writer Jimmy Perry, creator of a programme called You Rang M'Lord, which was described as an "unsentimental view of life below stairs". Perry explained that the character of the butler in the series had been inspired by his own grandfather who had been a "gentleman's gentleman", butler to none other that Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane.

The inspiration for You Rang M’Lord came from the fact that my grandfather was a gentleman’s gentleman, he was a very posh butler to Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane. My dad used to tell me constant stories about his father and the tough hard life they had. The butler was always on the take with the local butcher, fishmonger, taking his bit, and there was an enormous amount of corruption...It was a tough, tough life, it was corruption from start to finish. Taxi drivers always say to me “Oh you write about the good old days”, they weren’t the good old days at all.

A bit of googling revealed that Perry Snr was Cochrane's butler at his Mayfair townhouse from the late 1840s. I wonder if the Admiral knew his butler was on the take?!

Perry Jnr went on to write dozens of well known British tv sitcoms with his writing partner David Croft, of which Dad's Army was probably the most famous. Perry admitted in an interview that the character of Private Pike was based on his teenage self. So there you have it, Private Pike's grandad was Admiral Cochrane's butler. How about that?! XD

Comments

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

The past was not so long ago, was it? I am thinking of that wonderful photo of Cadogan's cat.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Incredible is't it? I still can't quite believe this is true, though it certainly appears to be so. Things like this, and George Cadogn's cat, just make time telescope don't they?

[julian-griffith.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I need to watch that! *performs sneaky magic on the internet to convince it I live in the UK*

edit: Also, I wouldn't be surprised if he DID know his butler was on the take, and overlooked it as long as the household was running to his satisfaction. After all, a butler who's feathering his nest is a butler who's anxious to keep his job! And, as Cochrane wasn't likely as innocent as Jack Aubrey was of dodgy stock market practices, he wouldn't exactly be able to claim moral high ground.

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

Hear hear all round.

And isn't that a great connection? I shall smile about that all day.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Glad this made you smile. I just knew you'd appreciate this! :)

I don't know when the interview with Perry was filmed, recently I think because it doesn't appear to be a repeat. He certainly looked very sprightly for his age!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Yes, I strongly suspect that Cochrane knew exactly what his butler was up to but didn't give a monkeys as long as he was doing his job well!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Incredible isn't it? I still can't quite believe it!

I am very tempted to write to Perry's agent to ask if he has considered recording his father's stories about his grandfather for posterity. I wonder if he has any stories about Cochrane himself? :)