George Reid (1845-1918),
prime minister of Australia from 1904 to 1906. His enormous size was a subject of regular interjections at political meetings. Once he lifted his vast stomach onto a balcony rail for support. One of the crowd shouted, 'What are you going to call it George?'
'If it's a boy', he replied, 'I'll call it after myself. If it's a girl I'll call it Victoria after our queen. But if, as I strongly suspect, it's nothing but piss and wind, I'll call it after you'
(H. McQueen, Social Sketches of Australia, Penguin, Melbourne, 1976, p. 43.)
Posted 04/11/2011 07:06 am
