High society

Few people have been so effectively put down as the 1930s actress Jean Harlow who, triumphant as a Hollywood sex goddess, met the immensely patrician Margot, Lady Asquith, wife of the British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. Harlow insisted on addressing Lady Asquith by her first name, which might have been a sufficient social offence, but made it worse by pronouncing the 't' on the end of Margot. Lady Asquith, tiring of this ignorant impertinence, set Jean Harlow straight: 'My dear, the 't' is silent - as in Harlow.'