Other References

This background information covers a range of references in the play.

Swiss army knife

The Swiss Army knife is a pocketknife, generally multi-tooled, now manufactured by Victorinox. The term "Swiss Army knife" was coined by American soldiers after World War II because they had trouble pronouncing the German word "Offiziersmesser", meaning "Officer's knife".

The Swiss Army knife generally has a drop-point main blade plus other types of blades and tools, such as a screwdriver, a can opener, a saw blade, a pair of scissors, and many others. These are folded into the handle of the knife through a pivot point mechanism. The handle is traditionally a red color, with either a Victorinox or Wenger "cross" logo or, for Swiss military issue knives, the coat of arms of Switzerland. Other colors, textures, and shapes have appeared over the years.

Originating in Ibach, Switzerland, the Swiss Army knife was first produced in 1891 when the Karl Elsener company, which later became Victorinox, won the contract to produce the Swiss Army's Modell 1890 knife from the previous German manufacturer. In 1893, the Swiss cutlery company Paul Boéchat & Cie, which later became Wenger SA, received its first contract from the Swiss military to produce model 1890 knives; the two companies split the initial contract for provision of the knives and operated as separate enterprises from 1908. In 2005 Victorinox acquired Wenger. As an icon of the culture of Switzerland, both the design and the versatility of the knife have worldwide recognition.

Bloody

Bloody, as an adjective or adverb, is an expletive attributive commonly used in British English, Irish English, New Zealand English and Australian English; it is also present in Canadian English, Indian English, Malaysian/Singaporean English, Hawaiian English, South African English, Zimbabwean English, Kenyan English, and several other Commonwealth of nations. It has been used as an intensive since at least the 1670s. Considered respectable until about 1750, it was heavily tabooed during c. 1750–1920, considered equivalent to heavily obscene or profane speech. Public use continued to be seen as controversial until the 1960s, but the word has since become a comparatively mild expletive or intensifier.

Many substitutions were devised to convey the essence of the oath, but with less offence; these included bleeding, bleaking, cruddy, smuddy, blinking, blooming, bally, woundy, flaming and ruddy.

Publications such as newspapers, police reports, and so on may print b___y instead of the full profanity. A spoken language equivalent is blankety or, less frequently, blanked or blanky; the spoken words are all variations of blank, which, as a verbal representation of a dash, is used as a euphemism for a variety of "bad" words.

Marzipan

Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar and almond meal (ground almonds), sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract. It is often made into sweets; common uses are chocolate-covered marzipan and small marzipan imitations of fruits and vegetables. It can also be used in biscuits or rolled into thin sheets and glazed for icing cakes, primarily birthday cakes, wedding cakes and Christmas cakes. Marzipan may also be used as a baking ingredient, as in stollen or banket. In some countries, it is shaped into small figures of animals as a traditional treat for New Year's Day or Christmas. Marzipan is also used in Tortell, and in some versions of king cake eaten during the Carnival season.

Battenberg cake

Battenberg cake is a traditional British sponge cake with a distinctive pink and yellow checkerboard pattern, held together with apricot jam and wrapped in marzipan. Created in 1884 to celebrate the wedding of Prince Louis of Battenberg, it features two different colored, almond-flavored sponge cakes assembled in a checkerboard, bound with jam, and encased in a layer of marzipan. The cake is known for its light texture, sweet almond flavor, and visual appeal, making it a classic for afternoon tea.

National Westminster Bank

National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it became part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which was re-named NatWest Group in 2020. Following ringfencing of the group's core domestic business, the bank became a direct subsidiary of NatWest Holdings; NatWest Markets comprises the non-ringfenced investment banking arm. NatWest International is a trading name of RBS International, which also sits outside the ringfence.

NatWest is considered one of the Big Four clearing banks in the UK, and it has a large network of over 526 branches and 3,400 cash machines across Great Britain and offers 24-hour Actionline telephone and online banking services. Today, it has more than 7.5 million personal customers and 850,000 small business accounts. In Northern Ireland, it operates through the Ulster Bank brand.

Georgette Heyer

Georgette Heyer (August 16, 1902 – July 4, 1974) was an English novelist and short-story writer, in both the Regency romance and detective fiction genres. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story conceived for her ailing younger brother into the novel The Black Moth. In 1925 Heyer married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer. The couple spent several years living in Tanganyika Territory and Macedonia before returning to England in 1929. After her novel These Old Shades became popular despite its release during the General Strike, Heyer determined that publicity was not necessary for good sales. For the rest of her life she refused to grant interviews, telling a friend: "My private life concerns no one but myself and my family."

Heyer essentially established the historical romance genre and its subgenre Regency romance. Her Regencies were inspired by Jane Austen. To ensure accuracy, Heyer collected reference works and kept detailed notes on all aspects of Regency life. Whilst some critics thought the novels were too detailed, others considered the level of detail to be Heyer's greatest asset. Her meticulous nature was also evident in her historical novels; Heyer even recreated William the Conqueror's crossing into England for her novel The Conqueror.

The Masqueraders

The Masqueraders is a 1928 novel written by Georgette Heyer. It is set in Britain at a time shortly after the 1745 Jacobite rising and is concerned with a family of adventurers and escaped Jacobites.

Plot summary
To escape exposure as a former Jacobite, Robin and his sister Prudence have exchanged identities and assumed new names. The tall sister takes the name Peter while the slighter Robin is disguised as his younger sister, Kate. On their way to London, the pair encounter Gregory Markham eloping with a beautiful heiress named Letitia Grayson and rescue her. Shortly afterwards Sir Anthony, a friend of Letitia's father, arrives to discover that the elopement has already been frustrated and takes her home.

"Peter" and "Kate" take refuge in London with Lady Lowestoft, a former admirer of their adventurous father, and quickly rise to social prominence. Peter/Prudence comes under the patronage of Sir Anthony in particular, but he is recognized by the vengeful Markham, who tries to have him beaten by Mohocks. Later Peter is provoked into challenging Markham's friend Rensley to a duel. Hearing of this, Sir Anthony forestalls their fight by insulting Rensley in order to force him into an earlier duel and disables him. Startled by this intervention, Prudence/Peter begins to wonder if Sir Anthony suspects her masquerade.

Meanwhile, their father, whom they refer to as "The Old Gentleman", has arrived in London claiming to be the younger brother and legal heir of the recently deceased Viscount Barham, much to the consternation of Rensley, who had long believed himself to be the heir and who had already installed himself as the new lord. Under the name of "Tremaine of Barham" the polished new claimant rapidly insinuates himself into high society. He does not acknowledge his children immediately, while they, long used to his delusions of grandeur and multiple identities, are skeptical of his claims.

Prudence is invited to dine with Sir Anthony who, despite his air of sleepy detachment, has guessed that "Peter" is actually a woman and fallen in love with her. Prudence refuses his proposal, asking him to wait until her father's doubtful claim is proved, to which Sir Anthony agrees, although resolving to carry her off and marry her whatever the outcome.

Having obtained a document that could get the Old Gentleman executed as a Jacobite himself, Markham attempts to blackmail him but is persuaded instead to exchange the incriminating letter for another that exposes Letitia's wealthy father as a traitor. Using this, Markham forces Letitia to run away with him again. To counter that, the Old Gentleman dispatches Robin/Kate, disguised as a highwayman, to kill Markham and steal back the exchanged document, thereby inspiring the romantic Letitia to fall in love with her unknown rescuer.

When questioned by the authorities, Letitia gives a false description of the "highwayman" to protect her love. Unfortunately, she unwittingly describes "Peter Merriot" and Prudence is arrested. Once more she is rescued by the respectable Sir Anthony from the officers of the law and they gallop cross-country to the residence of Sir Anthony's sister. There "Peter" dons a gown and becomes the dazzling Miss Prudence Tremaine.

Following "Peter's" disappearance, suspicion is cast over both the Merriots, and so "Kate" flees to France while Lady Lowestoft complains of the deception played upon her by her protégés. In the interval the Old Gentleman proves conclusively that he is indeed Tremaine of Barham and the former Kate returns from France, causing a sensation as Mr. Robin Tremaine, his handsome heir. Calling on Letitia's father, the future Viscount is readily accepted as a prospective son-in-law while Tremaine of Barham welcomes Sir Anthony as Prudence's fiancé and a son-in-law after his own heart.

Quid

Pound is used to refer to a denomination of currency used in the United Kingdom. Known casually as the British pound and officially as the pound sterling, the pound is like the US dollar, both in value and in how its name is used. Based on recent valuation, the pound is worth approximately 1.3 US dollars, but this ratio is highly dependent on fluctuating exchange rates. The pound is produced both in the form of paper bills and metal coins.

The word quid is an informal British slang term for a pound. It is used in much the same way as the slang word buck is used in the US to refer to a dollar. Like buck, quid is used generally to refer to an amount of money rather than a tangible (or transferable) item of currency, so one pound in the form of a paper note, coin, or electronic payment are all referred to as a quid. Unlike buck, the plural form of quid is just quid, as in Can you lend me 20 quid?

As a slang term for the pound, quid has been used since the late 1600s. Although there are many popular theories about how the word quid came to be used in relation to money, the origin of the term is uncertain.

Airfix Messerschmitt Bf109G-6 model

The Airfix 1/72 scale Messerschmitt Bf109G-6 (A02029B) is a widely available 41-piece plastic model kit of the prolific WWII Luftwaffe fighter. It features accurate, newly tooled parts (re-released) with engraved panel lines, including the distinctive cowling bulges ("Beule"), two decal schemes, and options for underwing cannon pods.

Men Only magazine

Men Only is a British magazine title that originated in 1935 as a pocket-sized men's magazine. It became a standard-sized pin-up magazine in the 1950s and was relaunched in 1971 by Paul Raymond Publications as a soft-core pornographic magazine.

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.

Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print in 1887's A Study in Scarlet. His popularity became widespread with the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine, beginning with "A Scandal in Bohemia" in 1891; additional tales appeared from then until 1927,  totaling four novels and 56 short stories. All but one[a] are set in the Victorian or Edwardian eras between 1880 and 1914. Most are narrated by the character of Holmes's friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson, who usually accompanies Holmes during his investigations and often shares quarters with him at the address of 221B Baker Street, London, where many of the stories begin.

Cars

• Fiesta is a supermini car made by Ford from 1976 to 2023; it remains the UK’s most popular used car with over 300,000 sales.
• Peugot is a French automobile brand founded in 1896, making it the oldest car company in the world. 
• Ford Granada is a sedan manufactured by Ford Europe from 1972 to 1994.
• Mini Cooper is a British automobile of the original Mini series manufactured 1961-1971 and 1990-2000. Subsequent versions are called Mini Countryman, Mini Clubman, Mini Hatch, etc.

Iced lolly is the British version of a popsicle.

Slim Fast measurements

• 200 millilitres = 6.7 ounces
• 400 millilitres = 13.5 ounces
• 600 millilitres = 20.3 ounces

Flat 

British people call apartments "flats" because the word comes from Old English/Scottish for "floor" or "dwelling," referring to a set of rooms on a single, level floor, while the American term "apartment" (from Italian/French) describes separate rooms within a larger structure, but today, "apartment" in the UK is often a marketing term for fancier flats.