Sunday 26 July 2015

Tea

It was on this day 70 years ago that the result of the 1945 general election finally became known (it had been a very long drawn out count because so many voters were overseas with the armed forces). At 10 Downing Street, the Churchills listened in stunned disbelief as the full extent of the calamity became apparent - a Labour landslide. The loyal housekeeper rose to her feet and headed for the kitchen with words that sum up so much more than a mere election result: 'I don't know what the world's come to, but I'm going to make some tea.'

2 comments:

  1. My father, apparently, went quietly into the garden and, with sadness in his eyes and a heavy heart, tended his dahlias. My mother, an ardent Ellen Willkinsonian, said, ruefully, 'good, but this will mean the nationalisation of health.' How right she was, my grandmother took another sip of the brandy, more in hope than sorrow. At the age of three years and five days I, allegedly, burped, farted and went back to sleep, a summation of politics that I have maintained ever since.

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  2. Brilliant Malty! Your mention of Ellen Wilkinson led me to Wikipedia, where I was pleased to learn that, despite her best efforts, she spared us (a) Herbert Morrison as PM, and (b) comprehensive schools - for a couple of decades. She seems to have taken politics terribly seriously...

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