Fun_People Archive
14 Jul
Lordship, anyone? -- the Lordship of Wimbledon

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 96 12:24:33 -0700
To: Fun_People
Subject: Lordship, anyone? -- the Lordship of Wimbledon

Forwarded-by: Keith Bostic <bostic@bsdi.com>
Forwarded-by: tale@UU.NET (David C Lawrence)

What's in a name?  Well, $336,450 for Earl Spencer, brother of Diana, who
sold four of his titles Wednesday to finance restoration of the family's
country estate, Althorp.  One, the Lordship of Wimbledon -- which has been
in the family since 1744 and is named for the London suburb famous for the
tennis tourney going on now -- went for a record $264,000 to an anonymous
bidder.  German tennis ace Boris Becker had expressed interest in the title,
which, admittedly, has a better ring to it than the others Spencer was
peddling.  (The Manors of Upper Boddington, Newland Squillers and
Theddingworth.  See?)  But he denied being the mystery bidder.  "I'm quite
happy being Boris Becker," said the multimillionaire.

	-- From the Washington Post's "Reliable Source", Style section
	   page 3.  Compiled from staff and wire reports by Patricia Howard.

© 1996 Peter Langston