tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post5606504401636717591..comments2024-03-27T20:34:09.464+01:00Comments on zmkc: More Bushzmkchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-9938030008609095192011-12-23T21:37:44.651+01:002011-12-23T21:37:44.651+01:00Gaw - I will have to consult Kate Fox (Watching th...Gaw - I will have to consult Kate Fox (Watching the English), but I think the most Clark could aspire to would be upper upper middle class, since he wasn't part of the hereditary aristocracy. Because their position is not official and secure and because it has been arrived at by dint of effort - theirs and/or their parents - it is that slice of the population that most fiercely guards entry to the world where you don't say toilet or perfume, rather than those who have arrived at the rung above, I think.zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-35201373854962836762011-12-22T23:11:30.892+01:002011-12-22T23:11:30.892+01:00I enjoyed your implication that Alan Clark was ...I enjoyed your implication that Alan Clark was 'upper-middle class'. I hope he's spinning in his grave! 'Spinning' is quite appropriate as he was only a couple of generations away from the source of his wealth - oop North, in textiles.<br /><br />Clark's infamous furniture comment was made when quoting another Tory pol of that era (Michael Jopling). I'm not sure what he meant by this. He was a bit of a Nazi so he would probably have thought that good blood is preferable to old money.Gareth Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05058241057385364459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-40065122376449059612011-12-22T22:49:27.562+01:002011-12-22T22:49:27.562+01:00I think there is something in the human spirit tha...I think there is something in the human spirit that means people always want to belong to clubs that won't have them as members, George. Wonderful complicated questions re the hierarchy of furniture ownership. Just to start with, I would put buying from secondhand shops far above buying flat packs in the pecking order. <br /><br />I'm guessing the flannel flowers are the sort of greyish ones - they are lovely, Nurse.zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-77145633787687833892011-12-22T13:08:54.920+01:002011-12-22T13:08:54.920+01:00I love those flannel flowers. and my rosella loves...I love those flannel flowers. and my rosella loves the grevilleaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-69845594097546471672011-12-22T12:19:42.012+01:002011-12-22T12:19:42.012+01:00What I find in Wikipedia about Alan Clark suggests...What I find in Wikipedia about Alan Clark suggests, as you say, "the impossibility of [an outsider] ever being accepted by the upper middle classes in England." It does nothing to suggest why an outsider should wish to be so accepted.<br /><br />But I'm interested in the furniture notion. Among those who purchase furniture, there is a hierarchy--I know, having when single belonged to the lowest rung, that of those who buy from second-hand shops or from stores that expect one to assemble from a flat pack. Among those who inherit, is there also a hierarchy? Must one go 5 generations back as under the old "quartering" system? Is there a distinction comparable to the old French one of the robe vs. the sword, so that the table grandpa pillaged in Aachen counts for more than the one great-grandpa bought in New York? The subject calls for a new Proust to guide us through the distinctions.<br /><br />But we did have flowers in the yard till a couple of weeks ago, which is pretty late at our latitude.Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14819154529261482038noreply@blogger.com