The House of Lords then proceeded to its selection. As fashionable drama
in Paris and London concerns itself almost exclusively with adultery,
the first choice fell on Lord Gorell, who had for many years presided
over the Divorce Court. Lord Plymouth, who had been Chairman to the
Shakespear Memorial project (now merged in the Shakespear Memorial
National Theatre) was obviously marked out for selection; and it was
generally expected that the Lords Lytton and Esher, who had taken
a prominent part in the same movement, would have been added. This
expectation was not fulfilled. Instead, Lord Willoughby de Broke, who
had distinguished himself as an amateur actor, was selected along with
Lord Newton, whose special qualifications for the Committee, if he had
any, were unknown to the public. Finally Lord Ribblesdale, the argute
son of a Scotch mother, was thrown in to make up for any shortcoming
in intellectual subtlety that might arise in the case of his younger
colleagues; and this completed the two teams.