Correct Diane...'twas my posting. Merely forgot to add a moniker in my excitement.

You may believe that I celebrate 'some sort of sectarian, protestant ascendancy toff-fest'...those who know me would also know that to be about as far from the truth as it is possible to get and disagree vehemently. Ask them - we probably have more acquaintances in common than either of us realise. But no matter.

You may also regard Mrs Lee as extraordinarily patronising...you may be right. I happen to believe she did a good job in this particular instance though. The fact is that she was a toff. There were toffs in our society then...there are today. Happily neither you nor I fall into that category. Sadly it is not recorded that the toffdom of the house of Lee crumbled as a direct result of whisky (or could it have been whiskey, what with Carson's Irish connection?) consumption by the brothers during that week - certainly little can be discovered about Mrs Lee although I believe Derek Schofield has interviewed a surviving relative.

Sorry, still no connection with Scarborough fair...didn't Martin Carthy learn that song from Paul Simon whilst they were both on a transatlantic jet?