Alec Douglas-Home

The Right Honourable Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT,1 PC (2 July 1903–9 October 1995), 14th Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963, was a British politician, and served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for a year from October 1963 to October 1964. As such, he held a series of records: He was the last member of the House of Lords to be appointed Prime Minister, the only Prime Minister to resign from the Lords and contest a by-election to enter the House of Commons and, to date, the last Prime Minister to be personally chosen by a British monarch.

Nicknames

Home was referred to as 'Baillie Vass' by the magazine Private Eye. This running joke began in 1964 when a provincial newspaper, the Aberdeen Evening Express, accidentally used a picture of Home over a caption referring to a baillie called Vass. Private Eye then affected to believe that Home was an imposter whom the newspaper had unmasked, and the magazine maintained this conceit until Home's death.

Related Topics:
Private Eye - Aberdeen

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