The Ludicrous Charms of Downton Abbey

At the center of it all is the master of Downton, Robert, Earl of Grantham, played by Hugh Bonneville. Imagine Tony Blair stripped of that wolfish gleam of self-interest, inflated with 20 or 30 brisk strokes of a bicycle pump, squeezed into a tweed hunting jacket, and then sent out into the world with a fixed frown of genteel incomprehension.

Read more. [Image: Miles Donovan/AP]

Currently cracking us up: “20 or 30 brisk strokes of a bicycle pump”.

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   I nearly spat out the tea I was drinking when I read...Downton Abbey is the kind of show...

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   I’ll say this, though. Fellowes has created one genuinely fascinating character: the simpering Molesley, valet to...

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    My favorite thing about the Atlantic tumblr is that they tumblr like a person.

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    Love this show.

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    Interesting class analysis. If you can get past the “20 or 30 brisk strokes of a bicycle pump.”

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