"And in comes Roderick Usher with the Lady Eleanor"
Although it's a historical song, the title Lady Eleanor fits in nicely with the thinking of the early Seventies, when there was no shame in calling a song Lady Rose, Lady Rachel, Lady Anne, Lady D'Arbanville.
It's died out now of course, in fact it died out when punk turned up probably. But why? Is it sexist to talk about my lady? Does it make one sound like Johnny Walker? Should one be living it up in the canyon? Admittedly, it is rather dated, but I think it's time for a revival.
It's like shops called Lord John or Lady Jane - how did this groovy nomenclature come about in the first place? Was it Sixties' toffs setting the tone of the time, man, or was it just a fashion? There was a branch of Lord John in Southampton right up until the Eighties, but it made it's excuses and left when such a thing was frowned upon for being dated.
My next door neighbour ran a menswear boutique in a medium-sized Surrey town in the Sixties. He was telling me that it didn't really take off until he paid a visit to Carnaby Street to see what was going on and when he came home he popped the word Lord in front of the name of the shop - let's call it Peter Broome becaue I can't actually remember the name. So Lord Peter Broome became the hippest joint in the town, patronised by the popinjays and dandys of east Surrey.
So let's pretend it's 1970 again. Here's one for all you ladies out there.
