Your Queries
My husband and I have been watching reruns of The Virginian on TV. We’d like to know which other roles its star, James Drury, has played. – D.
The Virginian was a ’60s cowboy series, which also starred Doug McLure as Trampas.
Now 84, Drury’s long career began on stage at the age of 12.
His other TV roles include Firehouse and Walker, Texas Ranger.
He also has a small part in the 1956 sci-fi classic, Forbidden Planet. I enjoyed last week’s Query about the phrase “Goodnight, Vienna”. And it brought back memories of Rising Damp – didn’t Rigsby call his cat “Goodnight, Vienna”? – D.
Rigsby, played by Leonard Rossiter, named his cat Vienna.
The moggy was so old and mangy, he said when he put it out at night, if he saw another pair of eyes in the dark, it would be “Goodnight, Vienna”!
I couldn’t believe my ears when a work colleague, while we were chatting about QI, said that host Sandi Toksvig had a child with David Jason! – B.
You are right to be sceptical, because your pal is wrong.
Two of Sandi’s children were fathered by a friend, Christopher Lloyd-Pack, by artificial insemination.
Christopher is the brother of Roger LloydPack, who was Trigger in Only Fools And Horses, alongside David Jason. What was Winston Churchill knighted for? I mean, it doesn’t seem much for winning a World War – footballers get knighthoods nowadays! – A.
Churchill was actually invested as a Knight of the Garter (becoming Sir Winston Churchill, KG).
It’s an order of chivalry regarded as the most prestigious, inferior only to the military Victoria Cross or George Cross.