His Master's Voice (radio Series) - Cultural References

Cultural References

• "Blue Touch" is a reference to the instructions formerly written on the side of most fireworks, usually "light the blue touch paper and retire immediately"; the "blue touch paper" being the "fuse" used to light the firework. Blue is historically the color most associated with the Conservative Party, and from the early 1980s until September 2006, the Conservative Party's own logo had been a torch. (BBC News Online article)
• Lord Malan, a South African media mogul, combines elements of real media moguls born in the former British Empire, notably Rupert Murdoch from Australia, Roy Thomson from Canada, and his fellow Canadian Conrad Black. In fiction, he echoes the characters of Lambert Leroux in the stage play Pravda, and Robert Hardy's role as Twiggy Rathbone in the TV comedy Hot Metal.