Having been listening and watching various interviews with UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, one thing has occurred to me. Now this is a stretch really, but could JMS have based Robert Foxworth's William Hague on the aforementioned? He was in Prime Minister Major's cabinet in 1995, and also was a leader in making since the late 80's. Having recently watched Season 2, the two seem to share some mannerisms I think.
Babylon 5's William Hague
- Thread starter Transk53
- Start date
Hague wasn't very well known in the 1990s. He was Welsh secretary, not the most high-profile of cabinet posts. He was still best known for the speech he gave to the Tory conference in the 1970s, as a young fogey-ish schoolboy (inspiring Harry Enfield's Tory Boy in the process). And his tenure as leader of the opposition was pretty disastrous.
Anyway, if one were basing a character on William Hague, wouldn't you think they'd have cast a bald actor in the role. Hmm, a bald actor from Yorkshire. Does anyone know if Patrick Stewart ever did any sci-fi tv?!
Anyway, if one were basing a character on William Hague, wouldn't you think they'd have cast a bald actor in the role. Hmm, a bald actor from Yorkshire. Does anyone know if Patrick Stewart ever did any sci-fi tv?!
I'd always associated the name with the Former NATO Commander, and Secretary of State Alexander Haig. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Haig
I assumed it was a nod to the WW1 Field Marshall in control of England's efforts against the Kaiser?
One of Stephen Fry's more hilarious roles...
"Right, here's the plan. Under the cover of daylight we're going to march very slowly across the mine fields into the German machine gun fire, and do you know why they'll never expect us to do that?"
"Because they'll never expect us to do that again."
"That's right! 17th times the charm!"
"Right, here's the plan. Under the cover of daylight we're going to march very slowly across the mine fields into the German machine gun fire, and do you know why they'll never expect us to do that?"
"Because they'll never expect us to do that again."
"That's right! 17th times the charm!"
William Hague, the British politician you mention wasn't widely known in America, if you can even characterize the following as "wide" until he was the opposition figure to Tony Blair in the late '90s. Those Jerry Springeresque back & forths in Parliament aired on C-SPAN in the late '90s and it was mildly entertaining for news/political junkies to watch each side trash talk the other and make tall claims about their side. It was like who can BS a better tale. I think it's all a coincidence. One would have to be well-attuned to small nuances of British politics to have known of him by 1995 or so.
That said, there is a Michael Jackson who is some British General in NATO.
That said, there is a Michael Jackson who is some British General in NATO.
Fry was indeed hilarious in Blackadder Goes Forth (and in all his other Blackadder appearances), but he played General Melchett, not Hague. Hague did show up though, in the final episode IIRC, played by the also-excellent Geoffrey Palmer (from the series As Time Goes By amongst other things).
^ That's HAIG, not Hague.
In this case, as JoeD80 posted, JMS just liked the sound of the name. In at least one other case, there was a real-life personage who JMS had in mind when naming a senator on B5 and a soldier on 'Jeremiah' - Quantrell named after Quantrill's Raiders
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantrill's_Raiders
Jan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantrill's_Raiders
Jan
^ Yeah, we had a good laugh about that at the time. People were asking if he was going to copy other captains' logs and pass them off as his own or would sue over claims that he'd shagged an Orion slave girl, etc!
Hague was fairly well known in the UK way before the early 1990s, even outside the political classes, because of a self-important speech he gave to the Conservative party conference when he was 16, back in 1977 (for instance, Harry Enfield had based the Tory Boy character in his early 1990s sketch show on Hague, and clips of that speech would be trotted out for comedy value regularly long before Hague got into parliament). So jms might have caught that... but any link to B5 seems unlikely!
or General Wayne Slob.
