Memories are uncertain friends, part more than one

[lovingboth]

I set the questions for a quiz recently.

One round was on UK political scandals, and I was quite surprised at how few 'currently political people my age or older' got many of the answers.

One question was on which 1970s politician faked their own death and was then discovered to be living in Australia with their mistress. Lord Lucan was a more popular answer than John Stonehouse, but I suspect that the current TV series would change that!

Having come last in my class for the first year French exams, I was put in the 'Economics and Government & Politics' set, rather than the 'Latin' (top third) or 'German' (middle third) one.

As part of it, we were given a politician to watch out for stories about. Mine was the Secretary of State for Defence in the Labour government, and I can remember one story being around him falling asleep next to/very near to the Queen at some military event. Private Eye joked he should be found guilty of treason - the offence of sleeping with the Queen is still part of the Treason Act 1351.

Another memory is that someone came into class one day and said that they didn't have to do this any more: their politician had died.

I was certain that this memory was about John Stonehouse and their tracking wasn't in fact at an end..

.. except that it looks like he was never appointed a minister after the 1974 General Elections, and the tired Defence Minister was Fred Mulley who was only appointed to that job in 1976, long after Stonehouse had been found.

The politician in question must have been Antony Crossland, who died suddenly in 1977 while Foreign Secretary.

Comments

[ludy]

If the quiz-answerers are anything like me at least one of them will have remembered the Stonehouse story, possibly with a bunch of random detailed details, but have had that frustrating “o the name’s right on the tip of my tongue …. what was he called” mental experience….

But I am bemused that the ones who could remember Lord Lucan’s name thought he was actually found whether living in Australia with a mistress or at all!