“Oh, you nosey parker,” is often used in the U.K. to describe someone who is over-inquisitive and a busybody in your private business. We tend to think that these popular expressions are fairly contemporary, but really date back a long way.

So how do we attribute nosiness to parker? Back in the reign of Elizabeth 1st, she called Matthew Parker to be the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury after the death of the Catholic monarch, Mary Tudor. He was reluctant to take office, but succumbed, because he preferred scholarship to being a religious leader. But he was so inquisitive as to the roots of the Church of England, that he was nicknamed ‘nosey Parker’ by the dissenters. He died in 1575. Indeed, during the civil war that occurred in the early part of the 17th century, the Protestants dug his body up and threw it on a dung heap as a sign of their contempt for his principles.

What a name, and what a legacy to leave. Yet what will be our memorial, and will we leave a good name, which is as a precious ointment?