PRIME TIME CELEBRITIES
Charles Dickens dedicated his novel A Tale Of Two Cities to John Russell (1846-1852, 1865-1866).
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Sir Robert Peel (1834-1835, 1841-1846), was the first PM to have his photograph taken. He is also the only PM on the cover of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
William Gladstone was the first PM whose voice was recorded, in 1888, on Thomas Edison’s new invention of the phonograph.
Anthony Eden is the only PM to have stayed at Goldeneye, the Jamaican home of James Bond creator Ian Fleming, recuperating from illness. His month-long stay prompted one sarcastic headline reading “Prime Minister Visits Britain” on his return home.
Winston Churchill is the only PM whose portrayal has won an Oscar, for Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour in 2017. The wartime PM has also been played by actors ranging from Robert Hardy and Albert Finney, to Timothy Spall, Timothy West and Julian Fellowes. He also appears in the lyrics to the singles Oliver’s Army by Elvis Costello, and Jona Lewie’s Stop The Cavalry. Churchill is one of four PMS immortalised in the celebratory “your boys took a hell of a beating!” rant of Norwegian commentator Bjorge Lillelien in 1981 after his country’s 2-1 defeat of England. The others were Anthony Eden, Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990), and Clement Attlee (1945-1951). Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Henry Cooper and “Lady Diana” also got mentions.
Another Beatles recording, Taxman, is the only pop song to name-check two PMS in its lyrics: Harold Wilson and Edward Heath (1970-1974).
French actor Mathieu Amalric claimed he part-based the villain he played in Bond film A Quantum Of Solace on “the smile of Tony Blair”. Blair (1997-2007) has also been played in three separate films by actor Michael Sheen.