Bessie Braddock Archives - Richard M. Langworth

Sir Winstonus: “And thou, fair dame, art not of angels born, Thy tongue’s keen edge doth all who cross thee warn. Yet in thy zeal to strike with jest and jeer, Thou dost forget the mirror drawing near.” Shakespeare’s “Henry VIII and Catherine” by the artist B. Trell, 1887. (Wikimedia Commons)

Churchllian Shakespeare: AI Presents “You’re drunk…You’re ugly”

20 January 2025

Setting: A grand hall in Westminster. Tapestries hang from the walls, and the faint clink of goblets echoes through the air. Enter: Sir Winstonus Churchillius, goblet in hand. Lady Bessica Braddockia approaches, fanning herself dramatically. Lady Bessica: “Hail, Sir Winstonus, thou art returned, From feasting, drinking, or some sport absurd? Thy face is flushed, and eyes like moons do glow; Dost thou drown England’s cares in wine's deep flow?”

“Drunk and Ugly”: The Perennial Quotation-Chase

5 May 2022

"Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and what’s more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly." Lady Soames, who said her father was always gallant to women, doubted the exchange, but bodyguard Ronald Golding was present and heard it. Golding explained that WSC was not drunk, just tired and wobbly, which caused him to fire the W.C. Fields riposte.