Wednesday, January 19, 2011

THE JOHN DRAKE NAMESAKE

John Drake was a simple crofter working on the Downton Abbey estate. He was married with several small children when we met him as a hospital patient in the second episode of 'Downton Abbey' (by the American TV reckoning).

In March of 1913, Drake was suffering from dropsy of the heart (an abnormal accumulation of fluid in a body cavity which is known today as edema). This would have killed the farmer had it not been for a new and very risky procedure by Dr. Clarkson (at the urging of Mrs. Isobel Crawley) which drained the fluids from the pericardial sac and saved his life. We'll probably not see Mr. and Mrs. John Drake again in the series, which is more concerned with the family and staff within 'Downton Abbey' itself. For Toobworld Central, this would be a good thing, because it leaves us free to do some speculation for a theory of "relateeveety".

We know nothing more about John Drake's children other than that there were several of them. And it was inferred that they were all too young to work the farm if Drake had died before or even after getting that procedure.

So let's say one of those children was a boy, perhaps around ten years old. By 1923, he would have been 20 years old and perhaps even married. I would think definitely by 1927 he would have a wife and even perhaps a child on the way.

If so, then on March 19, 1928, a son could have been born to that son of Mr. & Mrs. John Drake of the Downton Abbey farms. And what better name for the first-born son than to name him in honor of his grandfather?

I doubt very much that 'Downton Abbey' will play out in the timeline that far for us to learn if such a supposition actually happened. And the concerns of the series would lie elsewhere as I've already mentioned. So I think we're safe in making this claim:

John Drake, crofter of 'Downton Abbey', was the grandfather of John Drake, a 'Danger Man' who worked for NATO and then for MI-6. It seems harmless enough as a theory of relateeveety. After all, most McGoohanists already make the assumption that 'Secret Agent' John Drake became 'The Prisoner' known as Number Six in a mysterious place called "The Village".

It was there that they had given him a number, and taken away his name..... BCnU!

1 comment:

Boy said...

Spoiler...the drakes showed up in the season 2 "edith learns to drive" arc!