The poshest pop star ever, music in Xmas ads and song lyrics we can still recite

[@digitalbrand2930]

Thank goodness!

[@philmus1]

Posh pop stars - Mumford and Sons, Genesis, and Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnell of Spinal Tap), husband of Jamie Lee Curtis, is Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest, peer of the realm

[@foxbasealpha]

Taylor Swift comes from posh (or “well-off” as we would say in the States) origins with her father working as a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch and her mother working as a mutual fund marketing executive.

[@margaretjbuckley]

That would account for her money grabbing (alleged miming) billion dollar tour.

[@KevKavanagh]

I can't remember the last time I saw the cover of Atlantic Crossing, which is possibly why I've only just now clocked the Celtic scarf.

[@MrArthurdog]

"Lord" David Dundas

[@giabgr]

Saucerful of Secrets do alright...

[@christophershaw3626]

Discounting Screaming Lord Sutch, whose social position is not endorsed by Debrett's, the pop star with the highest breeding is, in my calculation, Lord David Paul Nicholas Dundas (second son of Lawrence Dundas, 3rd Marquess of Zetland), if jingle singers (Jeans on) count as stars. Similarly, if Jazz musicians count as pop stars, then Eton-educated Humphrey Lyttleton (grandson of the 8th Viscount Cobham) takes the palm from those spurious Counts, Dukes, Earls. etc. From the Beggars' Opera, 1728, onwards, it has been a staple of English humour to perform "low" art in high accents: Vivian Stanshall was a good example of this, as was Noel Coward. My favourite sub-section of this genre is in punk: Celia Gollin (of Celia and the Mutations), whose upper-class accent with loutish backing (viz. Stranglers) was developed by Deborah Evans-Strickland in the Flying Lizards. James Blunt (see Counts, above) was only a junior officer, albeit from a smart regiment. George III said with a smile: 1760 yards in a mile"; but I digress.

[@christophershaw3626]

....and as an afterthought, the poshest single ever is, mayhap, the cover of "You're the one that I want (Grease)" by Hylda Baker and Arthur Mullard

[@KevKavanagh]

Love your work, some heavy lifting of the scholarly kind indeed, BUT, David "jingle singer" Dundas can do one, points deducted for poor judgement.

[@christophershaw3626]

@@KevKavanagh The point of class distinction is to exclude. If Dundas is conceded, then one must also allow Sir Roderick Victor Llewellyn, 5th Baronet, who as "Roddy" had a minor hit in the seventies, but was principally famous as an actor (for much of that decade he had a small part in Charley's Aunt). One must of course make exceptions to the rule, for if the definition of a gentleman is "one who knows how to play the accordion but doesn't", then the extra-national treasure Al Yankovic is excluded. By the same token, if the definition of a gentleman is "one who uses the butter-knife when dining alone", then Animal from the muppets is inevitably disallowed. If social rank bestowed by politicians is used as the criterion, then beware the false coin of the post 1997 creations; Lord Reg of Dwight being the most infamous example.

[@StephenMerchant-up8sg]

'Eater' took some hammer for being 'posh' back in the early days of the Punk Wars. Unfairly?

[@marchughes6161]

ref The Blockheads - it was the late great Derek Hussey

[@PaIaeoCIive1684]

Derek the Draw. Ian Dury was a tough act to follow.

[@Smudgie]

Terence Trent Darby and Sade.

[@buzzawuzza3743]

If you went to high school you like metal. If you went to college you like punk.

[@KevKavanagh]

Speak for yourself, mate! Mind you, a fellow punk rock traveller with a PhD once called me an autodidact, I love that word.

[@IanFoster-rg7ge]

Mumford and Sons.......

[@chrisb6296]

The Pogues (for those who shop at Waitrose)

[@SamLowryDZ-015]

Poshest Pop star - Jeremy Clyde

[@themacraecase4323]

Craig Brown's next book will most probably be about Margaret Thatcher.

[@VonL]

No Michael DesBarres? Posh ancestry AND lived the requisite life of debauchery. Checks the boxes for me.

[@innertube47]

SAHB(Without Alex)

[@margaretjbuckley]

TBF, they did that album before he left the band or died.

[@Ed-Topo-108]

Poshest pop star.. Dido?

[@PaIaeoCIive1684]

Nick Drake (Marlborough & Cambridge) was a posh lad emotionally unequipped for fame and folded having not achieved it. Other posh boys of the era, such as oddity Jonathan King (Charterhouse & Cambridge) and especially his proteges Genesis (Charterhouse) were equally aloof but somehow managed significant success despite this. There are even more privileged people in music now, with the privately educated and/or university products commonplace -- though the gaining of a degree through the current mass education system being rather easier may explain it.

[@matthewcoombs3282]

Poshest band must be early Genesis. 3 ex alumni of Charterhouse. And all the better for it. Stuff all those middle class poseurs dropping their hatches and joining punk bands.

[@KevKavanagh]

Having dropped their hatches I'm guessing there wasn't a tradesman amongst all those middle class poseurs to put them back together again?

[@acj2789]

Re John Lewis (which God preserve), Trump will surely insist on its closure as a condition of a trade deal with the UK.

[@matthewcoombs3282]

I used to love shopping at John Lewis back when I tried to be middle class. Stagnating wages will kill the brand. Apparently only the 1% now can earn good coin.