Saturday, October 28, 2006

Five Bits of Political Trivia

* Former Australian PM Bob Hawke (pic) held the world record for downing a yeard of ale - in 12 seconds

* These women all dated one politician - Candice Bergen, Shirley Maclaine, Jill St John, Diane Sawyer and Liv Ullman......Henry Kissinger

* David Owen was the youngest Foreign Secretary since Pitt the Younger

* Tory MP Robin Maxwell Hyslop's speeches were said to be so boring that you fell asleep half way through his name

* Only one British prime Minister has played first class cricket.... Sir Alec Douglas Home

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

somewhat off thread here
I'm somewhat surprised Iain you have not commented on the Greg Barker affair. The Daily Mail editor is obviously conducting a campaign against Mr Barker. Todays Mail indulges in a glorious piece of 'knocking copy' Mr Barker's links with the Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky are highlighted. Charles Wardle's unease at Mr Barker being his replacement is noted. No mention of course that Charles Wardle left the Tory Party under a cloud, having taken a job with Mohammed Al-Fayed.

The Hitch said...

gordon Brown the only chancellor to have a glass eye?

The Hitch said...

sarah teather the first circus midget to be elected an MP?

Anonymous said...

I must speak up in defence of Robin Maxwell-Hyslop. As a young civil servant, I used to service (in the nicest possible sense!) the HoC Trade & Industry select committee, of which he was a member.

Robin was one of the most active members of the committee and I don't recall his contributions being boring or long-winded (... unless I was asleep at the time).

Anonymous said...

Tony Blair - the only British prime minister to be married to Imelda Marcos.

Anonymous said...

Gordon Brown
The First Marxist Thatcherite Socialist Neo Con Chancellor Britain who has had not been put in a straight jacket or pair of handcuffs yet.

No wonder poor old Gordons not sure from which eye he should be looking, or from which hole he should be talking.

As with which sex he should be sleeping...........Gordon Brown will not be the first or the last.

Anonymous said...

Anoymous
The reason this may be is partly because Iain is a Conservative party member an activist and presenter of a Conservative internet TV channel.

If you want lots of very dangerous extreamly bias party political bad news about the Conservative party. May I point you to the BBC where I am sure you will get more then you require. Your paying for THE BBC, like THE BBC or not, aford THE BBC or not, so enjoy THE BLOODY BBC then.

nsfl said...

Hitchens - Gordon Brown does not have a glass eye, he has a detached retina.

There were more Old Etonians in parliament before it dissolved for the 1992 election than there were female MPs.

Westminster Bridge is painted green in honour of the Commons benches, Lambeth Bridge is red for the Lords benches.

George Galloway is an MP. (Honestly.)

Anonymous said...

TRIVIA

Shirely MacLaine`s brother is Warren Beatty. Is it just me or is that rather suprising ?

Anon 1.00 PM A lengthy discussion the implications ( if any) of Lady Gregina`s lover is on my blog . ....though the round window. ?

Good trivia - the word trivia comes from the meeting of three ways being a place where people gather to gossip

Also Brazil was named after the nut , not visa versa.

On Barker Lies.

I wonder why Iain does not feature this ripe fruit of a story. It caused me to think about sham relationships in politics in general. Perhaps we should go back to basics. So said "love cheat" Major. I must say I am a bit disappointed not to hear the Dale view on this . I wonder if , as my gay friends tell me , he is bored with discussing , in effect , his orientation with prurient straights.

Anonymous said...

The Turf Tavern in Oxford claims it was there that Bob Hawke set the record and also in the garden there where Bill Clinton smoked but didn't inhale...

Anonymous said...

Bob Hawke managed the yard of ale in 11 seconds according to Wikipedia.

But in any case, the world record is 5 seconds (according to the Guiness people) and when I was at Uni there was a Norwegian guy who managed the feat in 6 seconds.

Bullshi**ing by Bob, I think.

Anonymous said...

It's just you, newmania. Some of us knew that.

If you want real gossip, I can tell you that two of those women who "dated" Henry Kissinger were paid to do so, and one of them did so on explicit guarantee that she wouldn't have to sleep with him. At least one of them has denied what she said before, so I'm not going to put names to pricetags. Oh yeah, and when he was at Bohemian Grove years ago, he was overheard at the payphone muttering endearments to someone whose name was NOT his wife's.

Also, as reported in SPY, John Fairchild, publisher of Women's Wear Daily, got his photographers to pose pretty women next to Kissinger, giving people the impression they were his dates. The fame-hungry girls obliged to get their pictures in WWD, and Kissinger got to look mysteriously sexy.