Tilling (Sussex) for television, McConnell was introduced to Elizabeth Mapp by her intoxicated husband, Major Mapp-Flint, as "a veritable pilling of Tillar".) The custom in Tilling of saying ""au reservoir"" as a valediction (in place of the French" au revoir") was a feature of "Miss Mapp", although it became apparent in "Mapp and Lucia" that it had originated with Lucia in Riseholme. It was transported to Tilling by Elizabeth Mapp who had stayed one summer at the Ambermere Arms in Riseholme. The lexicographer Eric Partridge suggested that in fact the term had originated in America in the 1880s. Lucia's celebrated recipe Lobster
Thomas Tilling Wolsey, formed a limited company, Thomas Tilling Ltd, in 1897. In addition to bus work, the company hired carriages to individuals and to a range of public utilities. The company put three Milnes-Daimler motor buses into service in 1904. These were open top double-deckers with 16 inside seats and 18 "outside" on the upper deck. These were the first double-decker motorbuses built for public service in London. By 1905, Tilling had 20 motor buses but still owned 7,000 horses, kept in 500 stables. The horses worked the company's 250 horse buses were hired to companies and individuals for hauling goods