But everybody else can apply to be an aristocrat’s heir in Somerset, England. Sir Benjamin Slade, an aging, childless aristocrat, is searching for aspiring nobility in America. “Americans have more energy and a better work ethic,” he said. That, and British aristocrats, as everybody knows, are loony (some say it’s the inbreeding, some say it’s the luxury—I say it’s the damp). When Sir Benjamin Slade took over the estate, his batty aunt was still there, confined to two rooms of the house:

“She lived on Mars bars and Milky Ways, he said. “She drank for Somerset. She had about 18 different driving offenses—hit and run, driving over a policeman’s foot. When she died, she left £22.50, and she didn’t leave it to me.

The rest of the story, courtesy of the International Herald Tribune, is here.