Contains minor spoilers for the Downton Abbey, Season 6 Episode 5
Though Neville Chamberlain ended up playing a relatively minor role on Sunday night’s episode of Downton Abbey, the storytelling somersaults necessary to loop in a future Prime Minister were actually based on truth.
The fictional Chamberlain’s story–that the Dowager Countess threatened to spill the beans that he had participated in his brother-in-laws pranks–draws on the real story of Chamberlain’s wife’s brother, William Horace de Vere Cole. The inveterate prankster was so well known for his mischief that TIME singled out the pranks in his 1936 obituary:
And, though it wasn’t mentioned in his remembrance, the prank in which Downton claims Chamberlain participated was real too—though some accounts say that Cole and his friends didn’t dig their own trench across one of London’s busiest intersections, but rather directed a crew of workers to do so.
More Must-Reads From TIME
- The 100 Most Influential People of 2024
- Coco Gauff Is Playing for Herself Now
- Scenes From Pro-Palestinian Encampments Across U.S. Universities
- 6 Compliments That Land Every Time
- If You're Dating Right Now , You're Brave: Column
- The AI That Could Heal a Divided Internet
- Fallout Is a Brilliant Model for the Future of Video Game Adaptations
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com