The Great Royal Baby Race of 1819

George III (1760-1820): 15 children. Grandchildren proved less straightforward.

There are many different measures to decide what makes a good king and what makes a bad one. Certainly, one way to be a good one is by securing the survival of your own royal dynasty. And on these terms alone, King George III should have been a champion.

Not only did manage to stay on the throne for longer than any other British male monarch (sixty years, from 1760 until 1820) but he had no less than fifteen children to continue the family line. In fairness, his wife, Queen Charlotte really deserves most of the credit here. She did after all do the difficult bit of giving birth to these children, not George.

By the second decade of the 19th century, however, when the Royal couple were very old (and, in the King’s case, mad), it was clear something had gone badly wrong somewhere. Three of the fifteen original Royal offspring had died. Of the twelve remaining, by 1818, not a single one had produced any legitimate grandchildren. Many had produced plenty of illegitimate children, it was true (the Hanoverians were often a bit reckless in this respect), but an illegitimate child could not be king or queen. George and Charrlotte’s third son, William had, for example, no less than ten illegitimate children! This was not much help as none of them could ever be king or queen.

George IV (1820-30): Oldest son of the above.

A constitutional crisis loomed as the Royal children, now in their forties and fifties were encouraged to settle down and start producing heirs as quickly as possible so as to ensure the Royal line didn’t die out as soon as the last of George III’s children died.

As it was the King’s eldest son, Prince George, already proclaimed Regent due to his father’s madness in 1811, was expected to become King George IV on his father’s death, despite already being quite old himself, as well as fat, unpopular and lazy. George was divorced, but did have a daughter, Princess Charlotte of Wales. She was, in contrast, popular and well-liked. Many looked forward to her becoming Queen when her grandfather and father had died. But it was not to be. Tragically, in 1817, Charlotte died herself, aged just 19.

The crisis now became acute: the King’s condition reportedly worsened by the day. He would, in fact, die in 1820. The great race to produce a Royal baby was on!

William IV (1830-37): Third son of George III. Brother of George IV. Uncle of Victoria.

With the pressure mounting, two of the Royal sons, Edward, Duke of Kent and Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge found wives and married quickly in 1818. And, in 1819, three Royal babies were born. Edward, himself already over fifty, became father for the first time to a little girl, while Adolphus and another fairly recently married middle-aged brother, Ernest Augustus soon fathered to a son each (in both cases called George) soon after. The line of succession seemed safe. For the moment.

A short break in Sidmouth
In such circumstances, it is hardly surprising Prince Edward and his wife Victoria were particular keen to ensure their new baby daughter was kept healthy. Their decision to take advantage of the restorative properties of the sea air of Sidmouth on the East Devon coast, however, proved to have disastrous consequences.

The Prince rented Woolbrook Cottage from Christmas 1819. The name was misleading: it was in fact a large substantial house and is now the Royal Glen Hotel. The baby itself was fine. But within days, the prince had decided – against all available advice – to take a bracing walk in the cold rain. This turned out to be a disastrous mistake. Within a few days, he had developed a chill which soon turned into pneumonia. On 23rd January 1820, he died, aged just fifty-two. His father George III died just six days later and soon Edward’s older brother was crowned King George IV.

George IV reigned for a decade, followed by his brother (he of the ten illegitimate children) who became William IV and reigned for seven years until his own death in 1837. It was at that point, eighteen years on, the infant daughter of the man who had died after walking in the rain in Sidmouth, Alexandrina Victoria became Queen herself. Queen Victoria time on the British throne would, in due course, come to be seen as one of the longest and most glorious in British history.

Queen Victoria (1837-1901): Had eight children. Charles III is her great-great-great grandson.

Remembering Grange Hill…

Let’s see now… There was Gonch, Zammo, Ziggy Greaves and Pogo Patterson. Tucker Jenkins, Trisha Yates, Precious Matthews, Roland, the dreaded Imelda Davis, the bully Gripper Stebson, poor old Danny Kendall, Fay Lucas, Fiona Wilson and Stewpot Stewart.

I might as well be listing figures from my own childhood and, in a sense, I am, though I never met any of them. For all of the above were pupils at the fictional comprehensive school, Grange Hill. The popular BBC children’s drama started forty-six years ago in February 1978 and ran until 2008. Perhaps I am biased, but I tend to think it’s finest years were in the 1980s i.e. during my own childhood.

Though I have watched them since, I was too young to have seen the very first episodes of Grange Hill when they were first broadcast. The original title sequence was memorable, presenting the series as if it was a story in a comic, depicting various pupils (none of them ever characters in the series) enduring typical scenes from school life: a girl missing the school bus, a swimming lesson, a rowdy game of netball, a stray sausage starting a food fight in the canteen and a boy (somewhat ironically) getting a comic confiscated in class. The original theme music, Chicken Man by Alan Hawkshaw was also used for the charades-themed, Give Us A Clue between 1979 and 1982.

Creator Phil Redmond had first come up with the idea for a school-based drama originally to be called ‘Grange Park’ while standing in a Liverpool dole queue in the mid-1970s. He later changed the name to ‘Grange Hill’, not realising this was already the name of a minor London tube station. A key innovation was to film much of the action at a child’s eye-level. The series was immediately popular but also controversial. Comprehensive schools were still a relatively new thing in 1978 and many parents were shocked to see bullying and racism portrayed openly on screen. Many complaints centred on the use of bad language. This is odd really as with the exception of one episode where microphones accidentally picked up someone swearing in the background, the language used was rarely stronger than “flipping heck”. This was, in fact, one area of the series which was consistently unrealistic.

By the time I started watching the show in about 1982, many of the original cast such as Peter ‘Tucker’ Jenkins and Benny Green (Todd Carty and the late Terry Sue-Patt) were on the verge of leaving. Tucker was a popular character and Carty returned to play the character in the spin-off series, Tucker’s Luck (1983-85). Carty is now probably more famous for his long stint as Mark Fowler in EastEnders. Many other ex-Grange Hill alumni including Susan Tully, Luisa Bradshaw-White, Michelle Gayle and Sean Maguire also moved on to the adult London-based soap, the last two also enjoying successful pop music careers.

Grange Hill enjoyed a number of memorable storylines in the 1980s. Some were arguably silly and unrealistic: the introduction of a school donkey and a special Grange Hill radio station spring to mind. Others were more shocking and hard-hitting such as the sudden death of pupil, Danny Kendall (Jonathan Lambeth) after he stole the car of teacher, Mr Bronson’s (Michael Sheard), essentially a be-wigged tyrant. No Grange Hill storyline ever received as much attention as the heroin addiction of Zammo Maguire (Lee MacDonald) in 1986 and 1987, however. It led to the release of a pop single “Just Say No” and a wider anti-drugs campaign.

By the 21st century, Grange Hill was showing signs of going into decline. In 2002, creator Phil Redmond moved the show’s setting from London to Liverpool. In time, Redmond who had subsequently created Brookside and Hollyoaks grew unhappy with the BBC’s plans for the series. Grange Hill was cancelled in 2008, but its enduring impact has continued to resonate long after the final bell rang.

Fun facts about Jimmy Carter

At the time of writing, the former US president, Jimmy Carter is 99 years old. He is not just the oldest former president alive but has now lived longer than anyone else who has ever been US president. However, recent news reports suggest he has now in declining health. With this in mind, it seems an appropriate moment to reflect on his life and achievements.

Let us consider for a moment: Jimmy Carter was US president between 1977 and 1981. This is now an astonishing amount of time ago. The current British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak was born during Carter’s last year in office. John Lennon was shot barely six weeks before Carter’s presidency ended. Nine presidents held office during Carter’s pre-presidential lifetime. Six more presidents have been and gone in the years since he left office. He really is very old indeed.

Some more fun facts about Carter:

1. He was the first US president to be born in a hospital.
2. He is the last of the eight US presidents to have served in the Second World War.
3. He was born in 1924, the same year as George HW Bush (1924-2018). The 30th president Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) was in office then while former President William Taft (born: 1857) was still alive. Wild West veteran, Wyatt Earp was also still alive in 1924 as was author, Thomas Hardy. Non-silent films still lay in the future. Carter was born before Margaret Thatcher or Queen Elizabeth II.
4. Technically, Carter is still eligible to run for a second term as president, should he so wish.
5. Carter claims he once saw a UFO while serving as Governor of Georgia. He doesn’t think it had anything to do with aliens.
6. He wrote a historic novel called The Hornet’s Nest which was published in 2003.
7. Gerald Ford who died aged 93 in 2006 is the second longest surviving president to date.
8. Jimmy was married to his wife Rosalynn for 77 years, longer than any marriage to any US president. Sadly, Rosalynn died in November 2023, aged 96.
9. During 1980, Carter was stalked by potential assassin, John Hinckley. In March 1981, Hinckley shot Carter’s successor, Ronald Reagan in a bid to “impress” actress, Jodie Foster. Hinckley failed on both counts: Reagan survived and Foster definitely wasn’t “impressed” by Hinckley’s gesture.
10. Carter has a first-class degree in Nuclear Physics. He was thus unusually well-qualified to understand the Three Mile Island crisis which occurred during his administration.
11. He is often described as a peanut farmer. Strictly speaking, he was not: he owned a peanut warehousing business.
12. In 2012, Carter appeared briefly as himself in the Oscar-winning film, Argo.

Carter’s one term in the White House occurred between 1977 and 1981. He was elected president in November 1976, a year of celebration in the USA as it marked the 200^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. But the 1976 Bicentennial Celebrations had a sour edge to them. The nation was undeniably going through a rough time. The 1960s had witnessed a surge in the levels of civil disorder and assassination. In 1974, Richard Nixon had resigned in disgrace over the Watergate Scandal. In 1975, Vietnam became a communist state, a development which sharply underlined how comprehensively the US had been defeated in the long war fought there. At home, the US was suffering from the effects of the global fuel crisis. Rising prices and recession were key issues by 1976.

Nixon’s successor as president, Republican, Gerald Ford could not be blamed for all these things. He had no involvement in Watergate whatsoever. But he had been appointed Vice President by Nixon and as president had chosen to pardon his predecessor. In many people’s eyes, he was tainted by association.

Ford also sometimes gave the impression of being simple-minded, a view that was re-enforced by foolish remarks made during a TV debate in which he claimed the Soviet Union did not dominate eastern Europe: a statement that was clearly fundamentally untrue during the Cold War years of the 1970s.

For these reasons and more, Ford looked vulnerable in the 1976 elections. But many people were nevertheless surprised that it was Democrat, James Earl “Jimmy” Carter who managed to narrowly beat Ford and become the 39^th US president.

Outside his home state of Georgia, Carter had been little known. He was seen as a peanut farmer. A few years earlier, he had appeared as a guest on the TV show, What’s My Line? Nobody had been able to guess who he was or what his job was.

But he was a serious politician, a former senator and a Governor of Georgia. His had a broad, infectious grin. His real strength was his honesty. “I will never lie to you,” he said. Carter’s outlook stemmed from his perfectly genuine religious beliefs. He was almost the exact opposite of Richard Nixon. And that was what American voters wanted in 1976.

Carter enjoyed a number of successes during his president, notably the Camp David Accords which offered hope for the prospects of peace in the Middle East and various breakthroughs in the relationship between East and West. But sadly, his presidency is now often seen as largely a failure.

By 1980, it was becoming clear Carter had failed to lift the clouds of economic gloom which had first descended on the nation before Carter had taken office. Carter’s electoral prospects were furthermore weakened by his failure to free the American hostages taken from the US Embassy in Tehran soon after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Operation Eagle Claw, a military mission geared towards rescuing the hostages proved a disastrous failure in April 1980. The hostages were only released on January 20^th 1981, shortly after the end of Carter’s presidency. Carter had proven to be a one-term president only, having been soundly defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in the November 1980.

Despite this setback, Carter later won the Nobel Peace Prize and became a respected elder statesman. His fundamental decency and integrity have never been in doubt.

Book review: James Callaghan – An Underrated Prime Minister?

Book review: James Callaghan – An Underrated Prime Minister?

Book review: The List of Suspicious Things, by Jennie Godfrey

The year is 1979. In London, Margaret Thatcher has taken office as Britain’s new Prime Minister. Meanwhile, in northern England, a whole county lives in a state of fear as the Yorkshire Ripper continues his horrendous killing spree.
It is against this backdrop that we meet Miv, an ordinary 12-year-old schoolgirl who is as appalled and fascinated by the news of the murders as anyone else. But Miv has her own problems too. Without warning, her mother has collapsed in on herself following some form of mental breakdown. With her father seemingly unable to cope and spending more and more time down the pub, Miv’s Aunty Jean (not an easy person) moves in to help out. But much to Miv’s alarm, there is soon talk of the family moving away from Yorkshire entirely and going ‘down south’.
This is when Miv persuades her friend, Sharon to help her launch their own investigation into the Ripper case.. Soon everyone become a potential suspect, as the two girls uncover a wealth of dark secrets about their local area, which it emerges is a hotbed of unhappy marriages, domestic violence and simmering racial tensions. But as things get more and more serious for the girls, it soon becomes clear, this is not a game any more.
This impressive debut novel from Jennie Godfrey is an endlessly compelling read.

Netflix TV review: Fool Me Once

How can a dead man show up on footage recorded from a hidden camera? This mystery lies at the heart of Fool Me Once, the gripping new eight-episode crime drama from the pen of bestselling Harlan Coben.

This is the problem that confronts Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan), a young mother and widow whose life is turned upside down when she unexpectedly sees her supposedly dead husband, Joe (Richard Armitage) on images recorded recently on a camera in her home. Her husband walks straight into her living room in the footage, stopping to pick up and cuddle their young daughter, Lily (Thea Taylor-Morgan). But what’s going on? Joe is supposed to be dead.

More strange things occur when Maya confronts her East European nanny, Izabella (Natalia Kostrzewa) over the incident, which occurred during a time when she should have been looking after Lily. But Izabella refuses to even acknowledge what the camera has revealed and when Maya gets angry, gives her a quick and painful blast of pepper spray in the face, before fleeing.

Maya’s recent life has been marred by personal tragedy. Both her sister, Claire (Natalie Anderson) and husband were shot dead in separate incidents fairly recently, her husband Joe during what appeared to be a botched robbery in the street. Maya has a military background and is haunted by her experiences of war. Today, she works as a helicopter flying instructor. Her mother-in-law, Judith (Joanna Lumley) is amongst those who have suggested Maya seek out professional counselling. Maya and Judith do not get on: Judith lives in a large house, is very wealthy and seems to look down on Maya a bit. Despite this, Judith is clearly right: regardless of whatever else is going on, she clearly does need counselling.

And lots of other things are going on. For one thing, Claire’s husband, Eddie (Marcus Garvey) is clearly coping badly with his wife’s death, drinking heavily while threatening to cut off Maya’s access to her sister’s two children, who she gets on well with. There’s the children’s football team coach who falls out with Maya after she challenges him for bullying children during a game being played by her niece, Abby (Dänya Griver).

Last but not least, there is DS Sami Kierce (the brilliant Adeel Akhtar) who is investigating Joe’s murder. In his private life, Sami is busily engaged in learning to dance with his fiancée, in time for their imminent wedding. But Sami clearly has more serious problems too: there are hints of addiction problems and some sort of tragedy in his past. He has recently had a minor car accident after blacking out at the wheel.

After just one episode of this, viewers should have a multitude of questions. Is Joe dead or not? Why did Maya’s nanny react so aggressively when Maya confronted her about it? Is Joe’s mother-in-law involved in some way? Why did Maya’s friend, Eva (Adelle Leonce) supply her with the equipment to spy on her nanny anyway? Is there more to Joe’s “death” than meets the eye? Are the shootings of Joe and Claire linked? Could Maya, who owns lots of guns, be in any way culpable? Why did Maya leave the army? What exactly happened to DS Sami before? What’s the deal with the aggressive football team coach? And why was the first episode bookended by strange scenes from the 1990s featuring young people wearing scary masks?

As with The Stranger and Safe, Netfix have done a fine job of bringing another Harlan Coben bestseller to the screen. Admittedly, the setting has been moved from the USA in the book to the UK in the TV version and occasionally it shows. British viewers will, for example, find it odd that Maya owns so many guns and that there is so much gun violence going on anyway.

But generally, this is a very compelling drama: watchable and very addictive.

Book review: The Murder After The Night Before, by Katy Brent

Imagine the worst hangover you’ve ever had. Now multiply it by ten.
That’s the situation that confronts Molly at the start of Katy Brent’s winning new comedy thriller. Not only is Molly suffering from the usual consequences which typically follow a night of alcoholic excess, but she soon discovers her apparent involvement in a very public sex act has left her plastered all over the harsh and unforgiving world of social media. Bad as this is, worse is to come: Molly’s flatmate is dead. What happened to her? Why aren’t the police more interested in uncovering the truth? Who is ultimately responsible for her death?
Katy Brent’s new novel is every bit as funny, clever and spellbinding as her first book, the brilliant How To Kill Men and Get Away With It.