A returning officer has set the web alight by saying tonight’s ends in an attention-grabbing hat and cravat which prompted comparisons to Austin Powers.
Lucia Bridgeman is a recently-appointed Excessive Sheriff hailed for her instructing work and who lives in a historic corridor – and tonight amused and delighted viewers tuning in to TV protection of the overall election.
She appeared twice on display, first to declare the second results of the evening -Ian Lavery’s victory for Labour in Blyth and Ashington in Northumberland.
She later got here again to announce Emma Foody’s Labour win in Cramlington and Killingworth – with BBC presenter Laura Kuenssberg telling viewers: ‘The returning officer with an unimaginable hat is again on the lectern.’
Mrs Bridgeman was named in March this yr as Excessive Sheriff of Northumberland – a job her father held in 1976, whereas her grandfather was Excessive Sheriff of Hertfordshire 11 years earlier.
Lucia Bridgeman captured loads of consideration together with her outfit alternative whereas saying outcomes because the returning officer for Blyth and Ashington, and Cramlington and Killingworth tonight
Mom-of-four Ms Bridgeman was named as new Excessive Sheriff of Northumberland in March
She was formally put in at a ceremony in Holy Trinity Church, Embleton, the next month – receiving a badge of workplace from predecessor Diana Barkes.
The standard outfit she wears on public duties attracting loads of consideration when revealed to the nation in tonight’s election protection – with repeated comparisons made to Mike Myers’s Sixties comedy film creation Austin Powers.
The character’s catchphrases comparable to ‘Groovy, child’ and ‘Shagadelic’ had been quoted by posters on X, previously Twitter, alongside screenshots of Mrs Bridgeman – in addition to pictures of Ricky Gervais’s David Brent dressed as Austin Powers in The Workplace.
There have been additionally joking references to Mary Poppins, Salem witch trial judges and teh Quaker Oats Firm’s ‘Quaker Man’ emblem on cereal containers.
Viewers additionally expressed their admiration for her look – and mentioned it set a brand new excessive commonplace for different returning officers to stay as much as.
Feedback included ‘The Returning Officer in Blyth served Austin Powers campery on this election countery!’, ‘Once you’re the returning officer at 11 however have an austin powers fancy costume social gathering at 12’ and ‘Why has the Blyth returning officer come as Austin Powers??’
Others wrote, ‘Once you’re a returning officer in Blyth at 11 & presiding over a Salem witch trial at midnight’ and ‘Once you’re the returning officer for Blyth however you’re additionally within the enterprise of prompt oats’.
A Mary Poppins nod got here within the contribution: ‘Returning officer from Blyth simply getting back from reuniting youngsters with their banker father following a musical sojourn with native chimney sweeps.’
Austin Powers comparisons had been common with viewers commenting about her outfit on X
Mike Myers first appeared as Austin Powers within the 1997 movie Austin Powers: Worldwide Man Of Thriller in 1997, alongside co-star Elizabeth Hurley
An admirer hailed her, saying: ‘Hats off to the #returningofficer from #Blyth. The gauntlet has been thrown. Returning officers declaring seats at 4am have time to boost their sport.’
Humorist Hal Cruttenden requested, ‘Why is the Blyth returning officer in fancy costume?’, whereas one other commenter declared: ‘Hat Of The Night time Award goes to the Blyth & Ashington returning officer Lucia Bridgeman.’
Her duties as Excessive Sheriff of Northumberland contain providing help to judges, magistrates and different regulation and order teams, in addition to the emergency companies and charities working with younger folks.
When her appointment was introduced in March, she was described as somebody with ‘a longstanding dedication to instructing’ – and who had engaged with pupils, asylum seekers and folks helped by the Nation Belief charity.
She mentioned on the time: ‘It’s a fantastic alternative to recognise the work that’s being achieved by an enormous variety of folks, so lots of them volunteers, concerned in small organisations all through Northumberland.
‘Individuals who put their coronary heart and soul into usually little-known actions deserve reward and help for the large influence they will make.
‘It is a privilege to tackle this position and to provide recognition to so many people who work under-the-radar supporting younger folks and regulation and order on this fantastic county.’
BBC election protection presenter Laura Kuennsberg, pictured with co-host Clive Myrie, commented on what she known as the returning officer’s ‘unimaginable hat’
Posters on X, previously Twitter, had been fast to make jokes about Lucia Bridgeman’s hat and cravat on the outcomes announcement in Sunderland – and there have been admiring remarks too
Mom-of-four Mrs Bridgeman moved to the county 18 years in the past, shifting into 18th century Fallodon Corridor, close to Alnwick in Northumberland, with husband Mark Bridgeman.
She beforehand spoke to The English Dwelling journal about their efforts to revive the property which her husband inherited from his household, along with his grandfather having purchased it within the Thirties.
She mentioned in 2019: ‘We treasure the home. We really feel very a lot honour-bound to maintain it in his reminiscence.
‘We don’t declare to be something grand or particular, however this home has significance, in a small method, and we cherish that.’
Some elements of the property date again to the 1660s earlier than an overhaul within the 1720s, with future residents embrace Charles, the 2nd Earl Gray – mentioned to have given his identify to the make of tea.
