HISTORY, CHANNELED: "COLUMBO" & LADY ASTOR

'Columbo'

"Dagger Of The Mind"

When visiting police official Lt. Columbo expressed an interest in the late Sir Roger Haversham's umbrella, his butler Tanner gave the briefest history of it - that it had been a gift from Lady Astor.  Looking over the umbrella, Tanner pointed out the engraving, which by that point was quite faded and worn down with age.  And of course, the material of the umbrella had been replaced many times over.

From Wikipedia:Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, CH (19 May 1879 — 2 May 1964) was an American-born socialite who made a second marriage to Waldorf Astor as a young woman in England. [Her first husband was an American, Robert Gould Shaw II, and they divorced.] 

After Waldorf Astor succeeded to the peerage and entered the House of Lords, she entered politics, in 1919 winning his former seat and becoming the first woman to sit as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons. She served in Parliament as a representative of the Tory Party from Plymouth district until 1945, when she was persuaded to step down.

Astor's friendship with George Bernard Shaw helped her through some of her personal problems, but his own nonconformity created problems. They held opposing political views and had very different temperaments. However, his own tendency to make controversial statements or put her into awkward situations proved to be a drawback for her political career.

  

Click here for more about Lady Astor.

(Personally, after reading about her in Wikipedia, I found her to be a hateful person.)

Sir Roger Haversham must have met Lady Astor through his own friendship with the playwright Shaw.  Sir Roger may not have owned his own theatre at the time, but was already making a name for himself as a producer of theatrical presentations.

Nancy Astor was portrayed in two mini-series: 'Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years" (played by Marcella Markham) and in "Nancy Astor" (portrayed by Lisa Harrow).  

Since so many historical figures are portrayed by different actors in both, I'm loath to consider either one for official inclusion into Earth Prime-Time.  However, when Sir Roger knew Lady Astor, she probably resembled Marcella Markham at that age.....

BCnU!