Mark Mason

On this day: how did the plimsoll get its name?

  • From Spectator Life
Image: Getty

Every weekend Spectator Life brings you doses of topical trivia – facts, figures and anecdotes inspired by the current week’s dates in history …

6 February

In 1918 British women over the age of 30 received the vote. The comedian Frank Skinner had a mother who always voted Labour and a father who always voted Conservative. So they agreed not to bother voting, as they’d only cancel each other out. But one election night, as it was announced on TV that the polls had just closed, Skinner’s mother said: ‘I voted.’ Skinner recalls that ‘my dad went absolutely crazy’.

GettyImages-3305474.jpg
Suffragette Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (Getty)

7 February

In 1991 the IRA fired three mortars at 10 Downing Street. Two fell short, while the third only reached the garden. This was because the van from which the mortars were fired had parked in slightly the wrong place on Whitehall. A line had been marked on the pavement denoting the correct place – but this had been covered by a last-minute snowfall.

GettyImages-159687435.jpg
Downing Street in the snow (Getty)

8 February

Roger Lloyd-Pack (born 1944). The actor’s most famous scene as Trigger in Only Fools and Horses (standing next to Del Boy as he fell through the bar) came about by accident. Lloyd-Pack was working on another programme at the BBC’s North Acton rehearsal rooms at the same time as the rest of the Fools and Horses cast were there with writer John Sullivan. Lloyd-Pack wandered through to say hello, and mentioned to Sullivan that his own programme was pretty well done and dusted. ‘So I’ve got time to spare if you want to use me for anything,’ he added. Sullivan, who’d been thinking about doing the bar gag for years, decided this was the time. He wrote it into the script there and then, and Lloyd-Pack started rehearsing it with David Jason.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in