Cora mentions Titanic survivor Lucy Rothes; Rothes, known formally as Lucy Noël Martha Leslie, Countess of Rothes, was known as a heroine of the Titanic disaster, famous for taking the tiller of her lifeboat and later helping row the craft to the safety of the rescue ship Carpathia.
The Dowager Countess mentions that her cottage was designed by Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723), arguably the most famous British architect of all time. His most famous work is St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Hugh Bonneville, who plays her son Robert Crawley (The Earl of Grantham), played Wren in Wren: The Man Who Built Britain (2004).
Faced with the glare of electric lights, the Dowager quips, "Oh, dear, such a glare. I feel as if I were on stage at the Gaiety." The Gaiety Theatre was a prominent West End theatre known for music hall, musical burlesque, pantomime and operetta performances. The building suffered extensive bomb damage during World War II and was demolished in 1956.
The episode won 3 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special, Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie and Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special.
Cora mentions "JJ Astor's new wife," referring to Madeleine Astor, who had married John Jacob Astor VI in 1911. There was a considerable amount of opposition to his marriage not only because of their age difference (29 years apart, with Madeline being 18, and John at 47) but because of his recent divorce (November 1909) from his previous wife. John died in the Titanic disaster, while Madeleine survived. She died of a heart ailment in 1940 at the age of 46. JJ Astor was the son of the infamous Mrs. Astor, an American socialite who appears in the Downton Abbey spinoff series The Gilded Age alongside her daughter and one of JJ's sisters, Carrie. JJ himself has yet to appear in The Gilded Age which takes place in the 1880s, about thirty years before Downton Abbey.