Google Glass Dating, and History in Downton Abbey

What is Downton Abbey?

Downton Abbey is a British period drama television series created by Julian Fellowes and co-produced by Carnival Films and Masterpiece.[1] It first aired on ITV in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 26 September 2010 ….

The series, set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with the great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy. Such events depicted throughout the series include news of the sinking of the RMS Titanic in the first series; the outbreak of the First World War, the Spanish influenza pandemic, and the Marconi scandal in the second series; the Interwar period and the formation of the Irish Free State in the third series; and the Teapot Dome scandal in the fourth series.

Downton Abbey

What is a period drama? It is:

A costume drama or period drama is a period piece in which elaborate costumes, sets and properties are featured in order to capture the ambience of a particular era.

Costume drama

What is Edwardian era? It's 1901 to 1910:

The Edwardian era or Edwardian period in the United Kingdom is the period covering the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910.

Edwardian era

What is Spanish influenza pandemic? 1918 flu pandemic:

The 1918 flu pandemic was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus (the second being the 2009 flu pandemic). It … killed 50 to 100 million of them -- three to five percent of the world's population

To maintain morale, wartime censors minimized early reports of illness and mortality in Germany, Britain, France, and the United States;[7][8] but papers were free to report the epidemic's effects in neutral Spain (such as the grave illness of King Alfonso XIII), creating a false impression of Spain as especially hard hit -- [9] thus the pandemic's nickname Spanish flu.[10]

Most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill juvenile, elderly, or already weakened patients; in contrast the 1918 pandemic killed predominantly previously healthy young adults.

1918 flu pandemic

What is Teapot Dome scandal?

The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery incident that took place in the United States from 1920 to 1923, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming and two other locations in California to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. In 1922 and 1923, the leases became the subject of a sensational investigation by Senator Thomas J. Walsh. Fall was later convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies.

… Fall had received a no-interest loan from Doheny of $100,000 (about $1.31 million today[4]) in November 1921. He received other gifts from Doheny and Sinclair totaling about $404,000 (about $5.29 million today[4]).

Teapot Dome scandal