The Churchill Series – May 8, 2007

(One of a series of weekday posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

An Anon left a wonderful anecdote involving the late actor Richard Burton and our man on the comment thread of the May 7 post. I hope you take a look.

Thank you, Anon.

No long, detailed post today; just a brief, punish one.

Churchill loved puns, some of which he made himself. When Pierre Mendes-France became French Prime Minister, Churchill said the question was: could Pierre mend his France.

Anthony Montague Browne, who in 1952 became Churchill’s Private Secretary loved puns, too. Here’s one he told at a Churchill Centre dinner:

But since you insist on a pun, I will give you a pun. It is about not making puns.

The jester of a medieval sovereign insisted on making puns and the sovereign finally said, ‘I’ve had quite enough of your terrible puns! One more and I will hang you." The jester did make one, and the sovereign duly sent him to the gallows. But at the last moment he repented, and thought he’d been a bit hard as he quite liked the jester.

So he sent a galloper to reach him at the foot of the gallows, who told him, "If you promise never to make another pun, you will be spared." And the jester sighed and said, "No noose is good news."

And so we come to the end of this brief and punish post.