Much ado is made over Ramsay MacDonald, who became the first ever Labour Prime Minister in 1924. He was also the first PM to come from a working-class background, and one of the very few without a university education. His background, coupled with his leftist political leanings, led many in the aristocracy to believe he was, in Robert's words, "committed to the destruction of people like us, and everything we stand for."
Robert grumbles about Sarah Bunting, "Here she comes, the Boudica of the North Riding." Boudica was a Celtic queen who led an uprising against the Roman occupiers of Britain in the first century, and has remained an important cultural symbol in the United Kingdom.
Mary mentions that Lady Cunard's daughter's tales of her sexual exploits were so graphic, that she nearly fainted. Nancy Cunard (1896-1965) was the only daughter of Lady Cunard and Sir Bache Cunard. She was a British writer, heiress and political activist. Born into the British upper class, she devoted much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. She became a muse to some of the 20th century's most distinguished writers and artists, including Aldous Huxley, Ezra Pound and Louis Aragon-who were among her lovers-as well as Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, and William Carlos Williams. In later years she suffered from mental illness, and her physical health deteriorated. When she died in the Hôpital Cochin, Paris, she weighed only 57 pounds.
The fire engine seen in this episode is a 1916 Dennis N-Type called Jezebel, maintained by The Royal College of Science Motor Club at Imperial College London.
Robert gripes, "Do people think we're a public house on the Great North Road?" The Great North Road was the main highway between England and Scotland. It became a coaching route used by mail coaches traveling between London, York and Edinburgh. The modern A1 mainly parallels the route of the Great North Road.