Andy Burnham's wife appeared on 'Blind Date' while they were together
With all the current political turmoil going on it's important to remember the things that matter, pieces of trivia that may one day be important to know in a pub quiz.
One day soon you might be in a pub while a bloke with a microphone asks you: "Which former prime minister from the 21st century shares a name with his party's founder?"
Obviously the answer is Keir Starmer, who was named after Labour party founder Keir Hardie, and also announced today (22 June) that he's leaving Downing Street.
He's going to be resigning as prime minister and laid out a timetable for his departure, with a leadership contest being triggered next month with a view that when parliament returns from summer recess in September there'll be a new PM.
Advert
The most likely candidate is Andy Burnham, who today was sworn in as an MP and left his post as Mayor of Greater Manchester.
If he does end up becoming prime minister then pub quiz question setters might want to ask: "Which British prime minister let his future wife go on an episode of Blind Date?"
That's because during his Cambridge University days when he was dating his future wife Marie-France van Heel, nicknamed 'Frankie', she'd told her new boyfriend that she'd just been picked to go on Blind Date and wanted to know if it was alright with him for her to go on it.
According to the Metro, he said yes and Burnham watched his future wife encounter Cilla Black while of the trio of men attempting to charm her she chose 'Will from Surrey', who was pretty much dressed up as Super Mario.
Apparently he tried to seduce her by making up a poem for her on the spot, saying: "Oh Frankie, oh Frankie, your name is quite cranky, pick me for your Blind Date, and there’ll be no hanky-panky."
It may be hard to believe based on that poetry, but they didn't strike up a relationship when they went on a date to Gibraltar.
He called her a 'cold fish' and she told him to 'f**k off'.
She ended up marrying Burnham eight years later in 2000, and Elle reports that 'Will from Surrey' became a marketing director for the Conservatives.
Clearly they went in very different directions.
Speaking about going on the show, she said: "I thought that appearing on TV dating show might raise my profile and help my career.
"Twenty years of intermittent mickey-taking was the result, but I’m happy to embrace my 15 minutes of fame/shame."
At least she got to meet Cilla Black.
Joe Harker