127th Annual Upper Class Twit of the Year

Many thanks to Main Line Sportsman and his keen memory for recalling this classic Monty Python skit. What was laughed at yesterday is tweedy fashion today. Check in next week when we'll explore Williamsburg heritage inspired by the sartorial aesthetic of Jethro Bodine.

Contestant No. 1 - Vivian Smith-Smythe-Smith, He's in the Grenadier Guards but can count up to four.

Contestant No. 2 - Simon-Zinc-Trumpet-Harris, He's an Old Etonian and married to a very attractive table lamp.

Contestant No. 3 - Nigel Incubator Jones, His best friend is a tree and in his spare time he's a stock broker.

Contestant No. 4 - Gervaise Brook-Hamster, He's in the wine trade and his father uses him as a waste paper basket.

Contestant No. 5 - Oliver St John-Mollusc, Another Old Etonian, his father was a cabinet minister and his mother won the Derby.

Jean Shepherd's Spitfire

Nobody can sell like the British. Nooobody. Whether it's a national airline or breath mints, you know they're gonna have a coat of arms. Something with a lion, a stag, some flag stuff and Latin. "Everything for Nothing - Nothing for Everything" is the motto I've selected for The Trad's coat of arms. I'd appreciate it if someone would put that in Latin for me.

Jean Shepherd did the voice over in this Triumph Spitfire commercial back in the early '70s. Shepherd, known mostly for A Christmas Story, was a writer who figured large in my world through fiction in Playboy and a column in Car & Driver. There was really nothing else I needed to read (except Penthouse).

Shortly after the commercial aired, Shepherd was on the Tonight Show and Johnny Carson asked him about the commercial. Shepherd tells a story of how even he was so impressed by this commercial that he bought a Spitfire. Minutes after driving off the car lot, Shepherd hits a LA highway and is happily cruising along until the car bonnet flys off.

I came very close to purchasing a white Spitfire because of Mr Shepherd. I also didn't buy a Spitfire because of Mr Shepherd. "Everything for Nothing - Nothing for Everything"

Si Anglais

The book is in French. 'Old England' is a store in Paris that was established by the Henriquet family in 1867. The family still runs it today. And while my French is limited to wine bottles and the menu at Le Veau d'Or -- I get this. Man, do I get this.

Update: A reader pointed out in the comments section that Henriquet no longer owns Old England. Sold in 1999 to Richemont, parent of Cartier and sold by Richemont to a group of investors in 2020, Old England has been sold again to Albert Goldberg, owner of Faconnable.