IT is one of the major news stories of the year — and it has a Tavistock connection . . .
The announcement that Cherie Blair is expecting a baby prompted Tavistock historian Gerry Woodcock to delve into the record books.
Newspapers say the Blair baby, due next May, will be the first child to be born to the wife of a serving Prime Minister for almost 150 years.
That Victorian forerunner PM was none other than Lord John Russell, brother of the seventh Duke of Bedford.
Lord John was MP for Tavistock from 1813 to 1817, from 1818 to 1820 and from 1830 to 1831. He was Prime Minister from 1846 to 1852 and again from 1865 to 1866.
His second son, William, was born in April 1848 when Lord John was 56, and his third son, Rollo, followed in July 1849.
(There's a thought — how about Rollo Blair?)
Mr Woodcock, to whom the Times is grateful for the information, says Lord John was 'a very able and much respected political leader'.
He adds: 'Commentators could not resist constant reference to the fact that he was very short. Karl Marx, comparing his lofty social position with his height, described him as "a malignant and distorted dwarf on the top of a pyramid".'
And they say politics is dirty today . . .