Miss Shepherd in The Lady in the Van
E345258
Miss Shepherd in *The Lady in the Van* is an eccentric, homeless elderly woman who lives in a van parked in a London driveway, forming an unlikely, complex bond with the writer who lets her stay there.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Miss Shepherd in The Lady in the Van canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3292363 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Miss Shepherd in The Lady in the Van Context triple: [Maggie Smith, role, Miss Shepherd in The Lady in the Van]
-
A.
Shirley Valentine
Shirley Valentine is a 1989 British comedy-drama film, based on Willy Russell’s play, about a middle-aged Liverpool housewife who rediscovers herself during a life-changing trip to Greece.
-
B.
Ruth Jones
Ruth Jones is a Welsh actress, comedian, and writer best known as the co-creator and star of the television series "Gavin & Stacey."
-
C.
Linda Partridge
Linda Partridge is a British geneticist and biogerontologist renowned for her pioneering research on the biology of ageing and age-related diseases.
-
D.
Mrs. Brown in National Velvet
Mrs. Brown in *National Velvet* is the wise, quietly determined mother who supports her daughter Velvet’s dream of training and racing a horse in the Grand National.
-
E.
Jennifer Saunders
Jennifer Saunders is a British comedian, actress, and writer best known as one half of the comedy duo French and Saunders and for creating and starring in the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Miss Shepherd in The Lady in the Van Target entity description: Miss Shepherd in *The Lady in the Van* is an eccentric, homeless elderly woman who lives in a van parked in a London driveway, forming an unlikely, complex bond with the writer who lets her stay there.
-
A.
Shirley Valentine
Shirley Valentine is a 1989 British comedy-drama film, based on Willy Russell’s play, about a middle-aged Liverpool housewife who rediscovers herself during a life-changing trip to Greece.
-
B.
Ruth Jones
Ruth Jones is a Welsh actress, comedian, and writer best known as the co-creator and star of the television series "Gavin & Stacey."
-
C.
Linda Partridge
Linda Partridge is a British geneticist and biogerontologist renowned for her pioneering research on the biology of ageing and age-related diseases.
-
D.
Mrs. Brown in National Velvet
Mrs. Brown in *National Velvet* is the wise, quietly determined mother who supports her daughter Velvet’s dream of training and racing a horse in the Grand National.
-
E.
Jennifer Saunders
Jennifer Saunders is a British comedian, actress, and writer best known as one half of the comedy duo French and Saunders and for creating and starring in the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
elderly woman
ⓘ
fictional character ⓘ homeless person ⓘ |
| ageGroup | elderly ⓘ |
| appearsIn |
The Lady in the Van
ⓘ
The Lady in the Van ⓘ
surface form:
film The Lady in the Van
memoir The Lady in the Van ⓘ play The Lady in the Van ⓘ |
| associatedWithTheme |
charity
ⓘ
class ⓘ mental health ⓘ privacy and intrusion ⓘ |
| basedOn | Mary Shepherd ⓘ |
| causeOfDeath | natural causes ⓘ |
| createdBy | Alan Bennett ⓘ |
| diesIn | The Lady in the Van ⓘ |
| durationOfStayWithAlanBennett | about 15 years ⓘ |
| fears | arrest ⓘ |
| formerOccupation |
concert pianist
ⓘ
nun ⓘ |
| formsRelationshipWith | Alan Bennett ⓘ |
| gender | female ⓘ |
| hasBackstoryElement |
fled a convent
ⓘ
involved in a traffic accident ⓘ |
| hasHealthIssues | declining physical health ⓘ |
| hasLivingCondition | long-term street homelessness ⓘ |
| hasPersonalityTrait |
eccentric
ⓘ
secretive ⓘ stubborn ⓘ |
| hasSocioeconomicStatus | impoverished ⓘ |
| livesOnPropertyOf | Alan Bennett ⓘ |
| mediumAdaptedTo |
feature film
ⓘ
radio play ⓘ stage play ⓘ |
| mediumOfOrigin |
essay
ⓘ
memoir ⓘ |
| narrativeFunction | catalyst for Alan Bennett’s self-reflection ⓘ |
| narrativeRole | central character ⓘ |
| nationality | British ⓘ |
| portrayedBy |
Maggie Smith
ⓘ
Patricia Routledge ⓘ |
| posthumousRevelation | true identity and musical past are revealed ⓘ |
| religiousIdentity |
Roman Catholicism
ⓘ
surface form:
Roman Catholic
|
| residesAt |
Gloucester Crescent, London
ⓘ
surface form:
Gloucester Crescent, Camden, London
|
| residesIn | a van ⓘ |
| setting | 20th-century London ⓘ |
| symbolizes |
guilt and redemption
ⓘ
social marginalization ⓘ |
| usesVehicleAsHome | van ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Miss Shepherd in The Lady in the Van Description of subject: Miss Shepherd in *The Lady in the Van* is an eccentric, homeless elderly woman who lives in a van parked in a London driveway, forming an unlikely, complex bond with the writer who lets her stay there.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.