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- WORLD, Page 33World NotesBRITAIN Unbarring the Bar Sinister
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- Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, the studbook of the
- British aristocracy, has decided to join the 20th century.
- Explaining that "about one in every four children in Britain
- is born out of wedlock," Debrett's co-editor Charles Kidd
- pointed out that the 2,300-page 169th edition of the tome,
- published last week at $205 a copy, for the first time includes
- the "illegitimate issue" of the titled and blue-blooded.
- According to Kidd, the change was requested by many people
- previously excluded. Said he: "Since Debrett's has everything
- to do with being a book of record, the inclusion ensures that
- the book is comprehensive."
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- Among those who have gained admission to the upper crust's
- official ranks are the offspring of the late Sir Lennox
- Berkeley, composer-son of an illegitimate member of the Earl
- of Berkeley's family. Said his widow, Lady Elizabeth: "My only
- regret is that my husband did not live to see it."
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