SCHOTT'S and FRIENDS

   The title relates to the series of books by Ben Schott, and the TV series Friends which you probably watched in the last years of the last century and have, most certainly, been reading about more recently. The Schott's volumes are small hardbacks, about the size of paperbacks, which are packed full of information, both bizarre and mundane. Three are pictured below and I have mentioned them before, in the post about the word "scissors" which can be spelled in hundreds of ways, (see: "Scissors and Spelling.")

There is a fourth volume, Schott's Quintessential Miscellany, which I also have and in which you will find on page 11, "The One With All The Friends Episodes" which I will paste below. It is highly likely that it is the one bit of information about Friends that you have not read. 

  "Chandler" is mentioned in many of the episodes listed, (e.g. "When Chandler Crosses the Line") and he was Matthew Perry. Even if you were not a fan of Friends, you will know about Perry who passed away on Oct. 28, 2023. About him much has been written and he wrote recently, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, so I need not offer more.

Post Script: "Several Degrees of Separation."
   In the summer of 1968 I was in Montreal and, in the evenings, took a course in "International Relations" at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia.) It was taught by John Langford who had just returned from Oxford. He went on to have a successful career as a Professor of Public Administration at the University of Victoria. Over that summer I got to know John outside of the classroom and many years later visited him in Victoria.
   This post script might seem like one long non sequitur, so I will mention here that John's sister, Suzanne is the mother of Matthew Perry. I won't pretend to remember conversations from over 50 years ago, but I do know that she was discussed, probably because even then she had attracted a lot of attention. She later became a press aide to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. She is now the wife of Keith Morrison.

Sources:
  I usually provide some, but cannot do so about my Montreal experiences and also do not usually write much about personal experiences, especially if they involve other people. I was curious, however, about Suzanne Langford back in the last century and found this interesting article from which the pictures and quotes are taken: "PM's Press Aide Isn't Just Another Pretty Face," Michael Prentice, The Citizen, Ottawa, March 8, 1980. It begins this way:
"From teen age beauty queen and New York Model to press aide to the prime minister of Canada, Suzanne Langford Perry has turned head wherever she goes..."
"Suzanne Langford was born into the "Rockcliffe Set." Her parents Warren and Lucille live on Ashbury Road, and her father is director-general of arts and culture in the Secretary of State department...."
"She has worked for some for some fairly demanding taskmasters, and they were more than satisfied....She is No.2 in the press office to Patrick Gossage, 40,  and Gossage says: "Some of the toughest, most hard-headed political people in Canada - like (Jim) Coutts and (Keith) Davey - trust her implicitly, and that's important."