Alphabet associations - I

[Nick Armstrong]

What B apparently links half a British entrepreneur; a classy menswear catalogue; Merlin in pursuit of love; and a composer who never married?

Just to bump this up & to say that I'm crashing out in 15 minutes so hurry, hurry, hurry ...

Apologies, I was detained by visitors...

But returning to the question I am struggling to get to a B... The only firm footing I've got is that Lord Merlin is a character in Nancy Mitford's "Pursuit of Love"... Can't find any Mitford link with any of the others... other than that Caryl Brahms (with Ned Sherrin) wrote a musical about them, and of course Jo Brahms never married...

But no link to menswear or an entrepreneur can I think of at this late hour.

[mercia]

I googled Brahms menswear and apparently there's a wedding outfitters in Huddersfield which names some of its suits after composers, including Brahms

http://www.weddingdressesleeds.com/page/menswear_collections

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Miss Brahms was in Are You Being Served?!

[cloughie]

Miss Brahms was in Are You Being Served?!

A Graceful answer!

[amateur51]

Apologies, I was detained by visitors...

But returning to the question I am struggling to get to a B... The only firm footing I've got is that Lord Merlin is a character in Nancy Mitford's "Pursuit of Love"... Can't find any Mitford link with any of the others... other than that Caryl Brahms (with Ned Sherrin) wrote a musical about them, and of course Jo Brahms never married...

But no link to menswear or an entrepreneur can I think of at this late hour.

Well done Cali, you've opened it up nicely.

Who was the character Lord Merlin based on in that Mitford novel?

Seeking out this entrepreneur, you'd be using t'Internet - what a marvel - must've been some fine feller who thought of that.

And this 'never married' business - is that code for something in certain circles?

Onwards and upwards*



*not a clue

[mercia]

Who was the character Lord Merlin based on in that Mitford novel?

a-ha!

Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson the 14th

[cloughie]

a-ha!

Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson the 14th

http://www.jubilees.co.uk/photos/45657a.html

[amateur51]

a-ha!

Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson the 14th

Bravo Mercs - and his other name?

[amateur51]

http://www.jubilees.co.uk/photos/45657a.html

Lovely train, cloughie - unfortunately the wrong track

[Flay]

Lord Berners?

[Flay]

His wiki page reads like Python:

The eccentricities Berners displayed started early in life. Once, upon hearing that you could teach a dog to swim by throwing him into water, the young Gerald promptly decided that by throwing his mother's dog out the window, he could teach it to fly. The dog was unharmed, though the act earned Berners a beating

After devising several inappropriate booby traps, Berners was sent off to a boarding school in Cheam at the age of nine. It was here that he would first explore his homosexuality; for a short time, he was romantically involved with an older student. The relationship was abruptly ended after Berners accidentally vomited on the other boy.

Berners was notorious for his eccentricity, dyeing pigeons at his house in Faringdon in vibrant colours and at one point having a giraffe as a pet and tea companion. His Rolls-Royce automobile contained a small clavichord keyboard which could be stored beneath the front seat. At his house he had a 100-foot viewing tower constructed, a notice at the entrance reading: "Members of the Public committing suicide from this tower do so at their own risk".

[amateur51]

Lord Berners?

One-hundred-and-EIGHTY!! Bravo Flay!

So we have two names - Berners (the actual answer) and Tyrwhitt. Onwards with the other clues please.

[Nick Armstrong]

I had him at the back of my mind as an 'unmarried' British composer, but couldn't think of his name (get him confused with Constant Lambert )

So Tim Berners-Lee is the entrepreneur, and the Tyrwhitt connection leads to the shirt shops of the same name - I presume they have a catalogue too - which I can say for a fact is assumed (has no connection with the family of Berners) as the company was founded by a contemporary of mine from University with an entirely prosaic name, and they just chose Charles Tyrwhitt because it sounded a bit posh and wacky like a lot of those Jermyn St. / Savile Row names.

But Anna-like, I am offline now!!

[amateur51]

I had him at the back of my mind as an 'unmarried' British composer, but couldn't think of his name (get him confused with Constant Lambert )

So Tim Berners-Lee is the entrepreneur, and the Tyrwhitt connection leads to the shirt shops of the same name - I presume they have a catalogue too - which I can say for a fact is assumed (has no connection with the family of Berners) as the company was founded by a contemporary of mine from University with an entirely prosaic name, and they just chose Charles Tyrwhitt because it sounded a bit posh and wacky like a lot of those Jermyn St. / Savile Row names.

But Anna-like, I am offline now!!

Well done Caliban - triffic stuff

So ... mercs started us off, swiftly clarified by Flay and polished off by Caliban who is now absent. Would mercs or Flay care to provide a carefully constructed C while Caliban's away?

[amateur51]

Coleslaw Corner: Lord Berners né Tyrwhitt is the composer who never married cos he was gay; Tim Berners-Lee is the entrepreneur who invented the internet; Charles Tyrwhitt is the name of the menswear catalogue; and Nancy Mitford portrayed Lord Berners as Lord Merlin in her novel The Pursuit of Love