Books in Brief: The Oxford Book of British Political Anecdotes

The Oxford Book of British Political Anecdotes, edited by Paul Johnson (Oxford, 270 pp., $17.95)

The author of Modern Times boils down over five hundred years of British history to 312 anecdotes. “Anecdotes,” he writes in a learned and entertaining introduction, “are a valuable source of historical truth. Inaccurate in detail they may be, but more often than not they convey an essential fact about a great personage which more formal records ignore. … I am always inclined to give an anecdote the benefit of a doubt.” He produces a book as superb in its way as others in the series, notably the U.S.-presidential, the military, and the literary collections. Johnson’s choices range from the Court to Parliament, and he takes care to avoid including shopworn ones. Instead, we get Wellington viewing the new members of the Reform Parliament and declaring, “I have never seen so many bad hats in my life.” And Lord Curzon asking a bus to take him home. And Lord Randolph Churchill in 1885 describing his own Tory democracy as “principally opportunism.” Thomas More, Disraeli, Gladstone, the incomparable Winston, Harold Macmillan—all are represented, in fine style. The editor’s glosses are especially helpful for those who are not up on their royals.

JM

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Joe Mysak

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The Oxford Book of British Political Anecdotes, edited by Paul Johnson (Oxford, 270 pp., $17.95)

The author of Modern Times boils down over five hundred years of British history to 312 anecdotes. “Anecdotes,” he writes in a learned and entertaining introduction, “are a valuable source of historical truth. Inaccurate in detail they may be, but more often than not they convey an essential fact about a great personage which more formal records ignore. … I am always inclined to give an anecdote the benefit of a doubt.” He produces a book as superb in its way as others in the series, notably the U.S.-presidential, the military, and the literary collections. Johnson’s choices range from the Court to Parliament, and he takes care to avoid including shopworn ones. Instead, we get Wellington viewing the new members of the Reform Parliament and declaring, “I have never seen so many bad hats in my life.” And Lord Curzon asking a bus to take him home. And Lord Randolph Churchill in 1885 describing his own Tory democracy as “principally opportunism.” Thomas More, Disraeli, Gladstone, the incomparable Winston, Harold Macmillan—all are represented, in fine style. The editor’s glosses are especially helpful for those who are not up on their royals.