If—as we are in Britain and along with many viewers from all over the world—you are glued to the TV series Downton Abbey, you would, of course, have noted the emergence of a very sensual and divine character called Atticus Aldridge. He is the love interest in Lady Rose MacClares life. If ever a memorable name had been plucked from the imagination of writer Lord Julian Fellowes, it is that of Atticus Aldridge. However, this is no fictional name made up on a wave of creativity, but the real name of my two-year-old grandson.
His parents Michael and Georgia had been invited to a charity auction organized by their friend Jubie Wigan née Lady Maria Balfour in aid of the Sugarplum Children, a charity set up for children who suffer from Type 1 diabetes. (The charity’s website is available at www.sugarplumchildren.com).
Jubie, whose own beautiful daughter suffers from the disease, came up with the ingenious idea of asking the Balfour family friend, Lord Fellowes, if he would, in aid of the charity, be prepared to generously donate the centerpiece auction prize; the opportunity for a lucky bidder to have a character in the next season created in their name. Lord Fellowes happily agreed.
Jubie Wigan’s charity auction took place during the Sugarplum Dinner which was the official launch of the charity and was attended by a plethora of who’s who of London society including the Home Secretary Theresa May and Pippa Middleton.
On the night, amongst a ripple of excited bidders, the auction began. The star prize eventually came up—the auction of the name. The bidding ended with my son-in-law, Mike, as the happy and successful bidder. When Lord Fellowes later approached Mike, he was asked if he would accept the name of Mike’s son, instead of the less romantic sounding Mike Aldridge. And so the gorgeous and romantic Atticus Aldridge entered our television screens and our lives, and overnight my grandson, or rather his name, became famous. And the charity was £20,000 better off.
However, what is not commonly known, is that although Lord Fellowes was happy because off the “Englishness” of the name, Georgia had taken it from one of our favorite American books: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In this poignant, thoughtful, and tear jerking book, emerged one of the most famous and memorable fictional personalities, the wonderful Atticus Finch. This extraordinary character was later plucked from the pages of the book and bought to life in the film, the role of Atticus being played by the unforgettable Gregory Peck.
I only hope that when older, my grandson will inherit some of the characteristics portrayed so sensitively and vividly in both the extraordinary novel and film and from which the name Atticus was taken. The book is, of course, written by an American and became one of the world’s most read and loved books. I often wonder—where did Harper Lee get the name Atticus from?
Anna Darby had a long career finding locations for many major movies, photographic stills, and commercial shoots as the owner of the most successful film locations library in Britain. Share a similar experience to that of her grandson Master Atticus’s, in the beautiful Family Château where he spends his holiday…at La Belle Vie de Château.
