| I would hazard that hardly anyone, over the age | | | | mere English citizen would have been caught |
| of 35, in Britain today has not at some stage | | | | within a few weeks, because without help and |
| wondered what happened to Lord Lucan. And the | | | | money, it would have been quite impossible to |
| sheer beauty of this conundrum is that no-one | | | | have stay hidden. |
| has the first clue what happened. There are so | | | | But Lucan was quite, quite different. He had |
| few facts to go on, that you can surmise | | | | contacts the like of which we can only dream of. |
| anything you like - he could be dead; eking out his | | | | Not only were they rich, but fabulously rich. The |
| life as a vagabond in South America; or even living | | | | likes of Sir James Goldsmith and John Aspinall |
| like a sultan in some Asian palace. Who knows? | | | | didn't just have the means to help Lucan out; |
| All we know for certain is that his nanny, Sandra | | | | they'd have loved to have helped out their old |
| Rivett, was murdered in November 1974 - though | | | | mate. They wouldn't have minded in the least at |
| by Lucan's hand or someone else's, no-one has | | | | helping out a mate who was a murderer. Breaking |
| any idea. We know that Lucan made a few phone | | | | the law of the land? No problem at all - at least |
| calls, wrote a few letters, dropped in on a friend, | | | | not to help out a friend. This, then, is what makes |
| and then... disappeared off the face of the earth. | | | | the Lucan story so enticing. Not only is it possible |
| Despite his thoroughly pedestrian life before then, | | | | that the fugitive Lucan managed to escape from |
| Lucan has become one of the most extraordinary | | | | Britain, it's highly probable. |
| legends in British history. How different it would | | | | But did they do it? Could they have done it? Both |
| have been if, a few weeks after the murder, | | | | of them had a well of low-life contacts who could |
| Lucan's body had been discovered. It would have | | | | easily have spirited Lucan out of England. Aspinall, |
| been a great scandal for a few months - but | | | | in particular, was thick in with several London |
| within a year or two, Lucan himself would have | | | | gangsters; the actual mechanics of making Lucan |
| been forgotten. | | | | disappear were not going to be a problem. |
| No, what makes it so interesting is that we all of | | | | And, the sheer beauty of this mystery is that |
| us revel in this delightful mystery. The murder | | | | both Aspinall and Goldsmith did their old one last |
| itself is now forgotten, and few people can even | | | | big favour - by taking his secret to their graves. |
| remember the name of the nanny. Instead, all | | | | They both of them died without revealing a single |
| that we are left with is this intoxicating tale of a | | | | word about Lucan's whereabouts. In fact, the |
| very handsome British Earl becoming a fugitive. | | | | very contrary: right to the end, they both |
| Anyone else, of course, wouldn't have stood a | | | | maintained that Lucan had killed himself. |
| chance of getting away from the country. A | | | | |