Richard M. Langworth

Anoth­er gold­en oldie Churchill “quote” which Churchill nev­er uttered will soon be mak­ing the Twit­ter rounds, and this one is a bit off-col­or. Colum­nist Jon­ah Gold­berg uses it to reflect on “A Thorny Porn-y Issue for the New York Pub­lic Library.” No prob­lem with his point about the NY Pub­lic, but this quote is not Churchill’s in any way.

For col­lec­tors of Churchillian red her­rings, here’s the alleged exchange: Churchill report­ed­ly says to a woman at a par­ty, “Madam, would you sleep with me for 5 mil­lion pounds?” The woman stam­mers: “My good­ness, Mr. Churchill. Well, yes, I sup­pose …” Churchill inter­rupts: “Would you sleep with me for five pounds?” The woman responds imme­di­ate­ly: “What?…

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