I woke on Monday morning — actually at about 4am — and learned of the success of The King’s Speech at the 2011 Oscars. The news was supplied by Radio 2. There was naturally no mention made here (nor in later reports) of the film’s having been been turned down by the BBC (and, indeed, by Film Four). Understandably, the Corporation does not wish to remind us of an artistic decision almost as wrong-headed as Decca’s rejection of The Beatles.

The previous evening, I had finally caught up with the film at the Odeon in Oxford, and enjoyed it as much as almost everyone else has done. Most impressive for me (and largely unapplauded elsewhere) was the well-judged performance of Aussie Guy Pearce (above) as that odious bounder Edward VIII. How that Neighbours triumvirate of him, Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan have prospered in the years since their teenage fame!

The pedant in me was naturally on the look-out for any solecisms or anachronisms on display. I thought I had found two in the use by Geoffrey Rush — the film’s star Australian — of the word ‘loo’ and the presence of an earlier-than-expected pack of yapping corgis chez York. Both appear to be kosher, however. The same is not true of some of Helena Bonham Carter’s pronunciations as the Duchess of York (later the Queen Mum) — ‘controver-see-al’ indeed!

I can also chunter (as others have already) about the use of the name ‘Princess Margaret’ for a girl always known as Princess Margaret Rose.

I am reminded that this was the case every time I sit down for a gentle thump on Rosemarie’s green art-deco 1930s Eavestaff Pianette, which bears a sticker that says “As used by TRH Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret Rose of York”.

An identical model is shortly to be sold at auction, I read in The Times on Tuesday, for an expected £125,000. We can’t hope for such a windfall, however. The Pianette being sold was the one at which Paul McCartney wrote Yesterday. Oh well . . .