There was a time when a fellow did not have to bother developing the tiresome qualities of merit and excellence to have an influence in society.
In the past - a decent and more elegant past - one was handed influence and leadership because one was born to it.
You either had it, or you didn't.
There was no undignified jockeying for position by those whose lives were bitten by such poverty of class they rose before 10am to get one over the other fellow.
It is a sad and sick society in which we live where such miserable desperation is required to succeed.
The whole business, as I have explained at length in the past, unravelled badly in the 1960s, when hippies and their unwashed ilk managed to manipulate the collective mind of the middle and lower classes.
But let us not dwell on the past: instead let us watch a two-part drama series about that past.
Sky Movies Extra is broadcasting such a series about the sad demise of Richard John Bingham, the seventh Earl of Lucan, popularly known as Lord (or Lucky) Lucan, a British peer and suspected murderer, who disappeared without trace early on November 8, 1974.
The facts of the matter are well known, and have been tabloid fodder since that time.
Lord Lucan studied at Eton, served with the Coldstream Guards in West Germany, developed a taste for gambling, was skilled at backgammon and bridge, but lost plenty of money at the Clermont gaming club.
He was also reported to have been once considered for the role of James Bond, raced power boats and drove an Aston Martin.
But after he parted with his wife Veronica, and became embroiled in a fight for the custody of his children, his children's nanny, Sandra Rivett, was bludgeoned to death in the basement of the Lucan family home.
Lady Lucan was also attacked and later identified Lucan as her assailant.
It was then Lucky Lucan disappeared; to this day, he has not been seen.
Lucan takes on that mystery.
It is reasonably honest with its tactics, beginning with the warning: ''Much of this story is based on fact, though we have included an element of speculation. Some scenes and characters have been created for dramatic purposes.''
The drama looking into ''a lost world of gamblers and aristocrats, of privilege and decadence - now long gone'' stars Rory Kinnear (M's chief of staff in James Bond movie Skyfall) as our anti-hero.
It features the fabulous Michael Gambon (everything) early on, and Christopher Eccleston (the ninth Doctor Who).
You can't go wrong really with that story and that talent.
It is well worth watching.
- Charles Loughrey
