This is not my beautiful house!
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!

-- "Once In A Lifetime," 1980, Talking Heads

         Maggie Smith, in "Gosford Park," which was in fact not shot in the real Gosford Hall, (the family seat of the Charteris family, presently occupied by the Rt. Hon. 12th Earl of Wemyss and 8th Earl of March), but was filmed in several stately homes including Syon Park (the London seat of the Duke of Northumberland).  The interior and exterior of Gosford House were, however, used for the 2000 version of Edith Wharton's "House of Mirth."

You had to have been on more than a few National Trust tours or else be very observant during the credit roll, but it was English friends living as squatters in a council flat in Clapham in the 80s who taught me the game of "Spot the Stately Home" - how, especially in that era rich with BBC period television series, you were encouraged to shout out the name of the particular country house or palace or royal seat being used as the location (both interiors and exteriors) as the story progressed scene to scene.  "Kissle OWwuhd" one of the young men would always bellow joyfully at the ultimate moment of "Brideshead Revisted" when Castle Howard (in Yorkshire, home of the Howard family for 300 years, the exteriors of which were also used for "Barry Lyndon") came into view behind Jeremy Irons.

"They now 'em awl, thut Miss Ivory and the Marchant and the luvly Ruth Prawn-Jumbalaya," the Boys as I called them would explain in that charming melodic way they had.  "Pop High Culture" was how we came to understand it, as the years passed and we moved into the 90s and "The Remains of the Day" [Dyrham Park, Powderham Castle -- for that turquoise stairway scene -- Badminton House -- for the servants quarters, and Corsham Court -- Ed. note]. 

Is this a game Graham Norton could play with his guests?  I note in passing that Matthew Goode will be playing Charles Ryder in the upcoming version of "Brideshead," with Emma Thompson as Lady Marchmain, currently shooting and scheduled for a September 2008 release.  The precious Matthew would have been a babe-in-arms when I was lounging about high as a kite watching the telly with my new-found mates and thinking how glamorous life in London was.  The Subway in Leicester Square, the Camden Palace, Heaven, Under the Arches...

But how to explain all this to Didier?  There was an article just the other day about the increase in abuse of over-the-counter cold medications by young people.  (getting high on Nyquil was always about as low as you could go, wasn't it?  Tragic in that I-was-a-teenaged-alcoholic after-school-TV special way).  You certainly couldn't walk into a Rite-Aide and buy the drugs we took in my day, but I am loath to approach the subject with him.  He's over 21 after all, and not a child.  But ... I confess, I worry.

The 1904 connection:  In the November 19 1904 issue of Country Life, the article "Clouds Salisbury, The Residence of the Hon. Mrs Percy Wyndham" by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt appeared.  It is a peculiarity of the period that Phillip Webb the architect of Clouds, (one of the great Country Houses of its time, as I have noted previously) was angered that his design should receive this unseemly publicity, flogged as it were to the common masses and idle curious who under reasonable circumstances would never be permitted a view of his creation.  Webb shunned media and public exposure for all his work, preferring the word-of-mouth recommendations of real gentlemen.  

Now I must post this and dash.  While I've been typing I can see out my window how a succession of six (!?) Crown Victorias in various non-descript pastels have pulled up one by one on the side street below and parked quite illegally.  Someone must be having a party -- perhaps there's a car dealer in the building? -- but I think I'll walk down and tell them they'll be ticketed if they stay where they are.  The meter maids around here are ruthless and give proof to the rumor that they eat their own young.  

Being told where to park -- certainly not a problem the right people would have ever encountered in 1904!