Our Man in Fotheringhay
literaryreview.co.uk
literaryreview.co.uk
I live in Somerset, which for some reason has a reputation for some weird place names. It does too but no worse than the rest of the country.
Hatch Beauchamp (Hatch Beech'um), Ryme Intrinseca (whatevs), Tintinhull (Tint'nll), Crewkerne (Crook'un). Oh and there's a bloody great chalk outline of a bloke with a massive club at Cerne Abbas.
You may have heard of Glastonbury. That is pronounced in these parts something like: Glasstunbree (run all the syllables together, shorten all the sounds except the mildly sibilant ss and trailing ee). The music festival is actually held near Pilton but Glasto sounds much cooler.
Others I've come across over the years, some in Wodehouse, some not:
Featherstonehaugh --> Fanshawe
Cholmondeley --> Chumley
Mainwaring --> Mannering
Wickhammersley --> Wickumsly
Menzies --> Mingis
The last immortalized in the limerick:
A lively young damsel named Menzies
Inquired "Do you know what this thenzies?"
Her aunt with a gasp
Replied "It's a wasp!"
"And you're holding the end where the stenzies"
That would of course be the faithful sidekick of Tennessee Tuxedo, who is the Linux mascot in an alternate universe.
Featherstonehaugh -> Festonay (I made mine up - do you have a citation ... to be honest, "fanshaw" sounds right)
Loughborough -> Luffbru
Your others, I agree with. eg (Mr) Mainwaring - Dad's Army.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Featherstonehaugh_Ukri...
There's also https://www.cntraveler.com/story/youre-probably-pronouncing-...
"...You could try hundreds of pronunciations of "Cholmondeley" (in Cheshire) before hitting on "chumley," and the sixteen-letter "Featherstonhaugh" (in Northumberland) drops more than half its weight to become "fanshaw."..."
etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Could_Work_Miracle...
I would argue the evidence of the lack of divine retribution for Mary's beheading laid the seeds for what happened to Charles I. Clearly, the divine right of Queens (and Kings) had limits. Calvinists didn't appear to believe in it.
Charles I was captured by the Scots and handed over to Cromwells forces. The same (protestant) Scots having been behind religious disputes, which led to (Catholic) Mary being first imprisoned, and then beheaded out of political expediency by a protestant English monarch and government. And in due course, a nonconformist protestant english government did away with Charles I.
If Charles hadn't stuffed around with the Scots over Presbyterianism, he might have lived. Thus, a martyr in every sense because politically, he was naieve. Their decision was weighted by religion, he'd undermined their religious liberty.