Is it in the genes?

Cycling home on a cold February afternoon I stopped to take a picture of a blue plaque on one of nearly identical houses in Twyford Road or Twyford Avenue, can't remember the street name precisely, but I can lead you there, here and now if you wish, Dear Reader.

It took some time before I found a moment to ask Mr Google what exactly Mr Richard Titmuss did to be celebrated in this way. Now I know (you can look it up yourself should you want or need to), and also that he had a very happy marriage plus that his daughter is a very successful scientist and writer as well as a mother and grandmother. 'Man and Wife' is a book Ann Oakley wrote about her parents.
'Digging deeper', I've just read an extract from this book. Please let me quote a few sentences which may interest you, my Dear Reader:
'it wasn't as an ordinary housewife that my mother primarily wished to be remembered in the leavings of the brown suitcase. She did go to a garden party at Buckingham Palace once, in 1970.(...)
The gloves were specially for the Queen. And so they stand together there, in the neatly paved front garden, which used to be grassed over and home to a variety of shrubs, but with time Kay had pruned all this to make it the kind of tidy place she felt comfortable in.

My mother treasured this day, just as she treasured all Richard's claims to fame. One of the most poignant insignia of this is the envelope in the brown suitcase which she kept because it found its way to the house in Acton despite its being addressed only to 'Professor Richard Titmuss, British expert on the welfare state, c/o Lord Mayor's Office, London'. His fame was her fame. They were one being, united in his effort to make the world a better place.'

You can imagine Mr and Mrs Titmus posing for a picture outside their house before going to a garden party at Buckingham Palace...

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I'm adding a link for an article about this first official London blue plaque in Acton - click here.