Gordon Bennett

[Andrew Denny]

Is this the Gordon Bennet/t on CW? Always amusing letters in the papers. 

[magnetman]

My mum's family name was Bennett and there was a Gordon a couple of generations ago. 

 

 

[matty40s]

We used to use the name in vain in the 80s.

https://www.sirgordonbennett.com/gordons-bugle/gordon-bennett/#:~:text=One thought is that he,should win the Gordon Bennett'.

[Stilllearning]

This is usually accepted to be the original one.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gordon_Bennett_Jr.

[magnetman]

Interesting connection with James Stillman and Brownsville Tx. 

 

My aunt (one of the Bennetts) did the family tree and traced our Bennett ancestors back to Brownsville Tx and the founding of the town also with family connections to James Stillman. 

 

 

[Ray T]

There is a boat named Gordon Bennett hangs around Sutton Stop.

The owner gets very cross if you ask him who Gordon Bennett was.

Had a bit of push and shove with another boat.

[Captain Pegg]

3 minutes ago, Ray T said:

There is a boat named Gordon Bennett hangs around Sutton Stop.

The owner gets very cross if you ask him who Gordon Bennett was.

Had a bit of push and shove with another boat.

Just passed it. Moored right outside the Greyhound which I think is where the Hargreaves trip boat will be wanting to moor about now.

[Hudds Lad]

9 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

Just passed it. Moored right outside the Greyhound which I think is where the Hargreaves trip boat will be wanting to moor about now.

Was moored on the (broken at the time) water point before the private moorings on the Oxford side of the bridge for quite a few weeks earlier in the year, a lovely chap from what i'm told.

[noddyboater]

9 hours ago, Ray T said:

There is a boat named Gordon Bennett hangs around Sutton Stop.

The owner gets very cross if you ask him who Gordon Bennett was.

Had a bit of push and shove with another boat.

I'll ask him why he's got 2 forecabins instead then. See what reaction I get..

[Captain Pegg]

2 hours ago, noddyboater said:

I'll ask him why he's got 2 forecabins instead then. See what reaction I get..

One is a forecabin, the other is a potter’s cabin 😉

[matty40s]

What's a potterfore?

[Alan de Enfield]

15 minutes ago, matty40s said:

What's a potterfore?

 

Making pots ?

[matty40s]

18 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Making pots ?

Up fore....

[Tim Lewis]

One of my school friends neighbours was called Gordon Bennett!

[Bee]

I used to work with a Gordon Bennett. Grumpy old git, no sense of humour at all, daren't tease him about his name.

[Andrew Denny]

I know the story of the original J. Gordon Bennett fairly well. One story was he got blackballed for getting drunk at one posh do, and urinating in the fireplace.

One legend was that Citizen Kane was modelled on him, not William Randolph Hearst. Orson Welles once said in a documentary that after the film's premier he got in a lift with Hearst, who frostily ignored him. Welles laughed about it and said "If Hearst really had been the original for Kane he would have shaken me warmly by the hand."

 

Anyway, I was wondering about Ian Grieve, who pops up regularly in the Grauniad with these amusing aperçus 

Edited October 14, 2023 by Andrew Denny
Esprit d'escalier

[Ronaldo47]

I had never heard it being used as a mild expletive until Harold said it in "Steptoe & Son".  That seemed to have  restored its use. 

[MtB]

3 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:

I had never heard it being used as a mild expletive until Harold said it in "Steptoe & Son".  That seemed to have  restored its use. 

 

 

My dear old departed Dad (a real cockney - i.e. born within the sound of Bow bells) used it as a mild expletive all though my childhood, and I have used it similarly ever since. 

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, MtB said:

 

 

My dear old departed Dad (a real cockney - i.e. born within the sound of Bow bells) used it as a mild expletive all though my childhood, and I have used it similarly ever since. 

I heard it as a kid, often as a tern of surprise when something happened, in stead of saying bloody hell they said Goren Bennet 

[magnetman]

My mum used to say 'Oh my giddy aunt' a lot in these situations. 

[MtB]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

I heard it as a kid, often as a tern of surprise when something happened, in stead of saying bloody hell they said Goren Bennet 

 

You're right, it's more an expostulation of surprise than exasperation.

 

 

[Andrew Denny]

My father never swore, until the last decade of his long life (died at 90 in 2008) but he often used to say "Christmas!" as a polite way of saying "christ!"

I think Gordon Bennett caught on for its hard consonants, which are good for expostulation. 

[ditchcrawler]

Passed this today 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Nuneaton ? 🧐