"When I was a Lad" from "Pinafore" Quiz

Answer:

The role of Sir Joseph Porter, First Lord of the Admiralty, was created for "Pinafore" by George Grossmith. He had been a successful touring sketch comedian until he fell in with Gilbert, Sullivan, and D'Oyly Carte and became their lead comic baritone.

A certain amount of care was taken by Gilbert when writing the part to not make it identifiable with any real person. However, the public would have none of that, and assumed that Sir Joseph was none other than the recently appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, William Henry Smith. Smith (yes, *that* WH Smith) was a bookseller and newsagent who had gone into politics, and rather quickly, and with no naval experience whatsoever, become the, well, ruler of the Queen's Navee. Though the role was not specifically aimed at Smith, it did address, quite pointedly, the practice of buying commissions and high military positions.

After a rather weak start, in May of 1878, "HMS Pinafore" started playing to packed houses. And, although there were many and varied copyright complications for several years after, it's been popular ever since. There was a copy of the record in the house when your quiz author was a child, and it's been kicking around our household for decades. This song, not surprisingly, has always been the favourite.