“Behind every successful man…is a surprised woman” (Maryon Pearson, wife of Lester Pearson, Prime Minister of Canada).
This is probably true. Probably the wife of every successful politician sits thu speeches thinking “dear GOD, why do people vote for him?”. Certainly when I read out the statistics for this Blog, I expect Mrs Fitzjames Horse to be impressed. It is disconcerting that she is always surprised.
For years, I have wondered who said that. So thanks to my friend David, I read an article by Richard Ingrams that credits Mrs Pearson.
It is of course self-evidently true. But more importantly, it proves there is no point in writing up “footnotes” in essays. Sooner or later, every half-remembered quotation you ever heard, will turn up on Facebook.
Keeping An Eye On the Czar of Russia 
Funny I also read that about Edward Heath. I think too much is made of his Batchelor status. Not everyone is married or in a relationship. We have LGBT+ equality, which is all very good, and gay party leaders, which is good, but we should also accept that some people end up being single for one reason or another, and we shouldn’t judge them as being worse.
The Richard Ingrams article was about Edward Heath.
There is no reason why unmarried people should not be successful.
Speaking for myself (and I never had a successful career) I think that the constant support of Mrs FJH for almost 34 years (so far) has made me a much more complete person than I was before I met.
I think this is something that most men and women in any form of conventional or unconventional loving relationship would understand. A person who shares a life of small triumphs and not so small tragedies is a great blessing.
Insofar as other people find satisfaction thru being “single”, fair play to them.
Heath was however a cold fish by any standard. Seemingly rude to women and a man who took part in a yacht race during Internment in 1971…he was Prime Minister. For whatever reason, he was pompous …as the article points out …in many areas of life.
I always regarded Heath as a middle aged parish priest, put on a pedastal by his parishoners and his hhouusekeeper….pompous and grumpy and sarcastic with altar boys.
In another context, there is an old saying that no man is a hero to his “batman”
Certainly Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Barak Obama, David Cameron….and just about every man in a stressful situation went home to the comfort of LadyBird, Roalyn, Michelle, Samantha.
It is not a sexist point…no doubt a stressed Margaret Thatcher went home to Dennis and Frau Merkel to Herr Mekel.
Nor is it a heterosexual point…as stressed politicians who are LGBT do the same.
It is all part of a humanity that is acted out in front of the TV sets in homes world-wide. I would miss that.
As they say Mary…”when one heart stops beating, another heart starts breaking”
It happens to the Famous and the Not-So-Famous.