tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520303675367700778.post4724877965636942257..comments2024-03-26T22:57:21.033+00:00Comments on Random Views: Frog dreams of PrincessDavid Beesonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00393977902379776532noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520303675367700778.post-22735617161988571492009-09-28T22:49:24.595+01:002009-09-28T22:49:24.595+01:00I fully agree - I'd have used the title too. I...I fully agree - I'd have used the title too. I just wanted to call David <i>Rosbif.</i><br /><br />Incidentally, I feel some sympathy for D'Estaing in his efforts to borrow glory from his ancestors. When I was a kid, I made sure everyone in my school knew I could claim a great-great-great uncle who was once the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Mind you, I mentioned it far less once I aged, as it only served to draw attention to the fact that I had received pretty much nothing of his physical inheritance.strasmarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03332469508592595136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520303675367700778.post-64861071129236528562009-09-28T15:26:14.167+01:002009-09-28T15:26:14.167+01:00I agree that the frog reference fits too nicely to...I agree that the frog reference fits too nicely to care about cultural sensitivities.<br /><br />As for that story, yet more wonderful quotables for me!Awoogamuffinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03868669228439003143noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520303675367700778.post-36296952022130162272009-09-26T11:10:26.368+01:002009-09-26T11:10:26.368+01:00The title came to me at the very last, after I'...The title came to me at the very last, after I'd written the piece, and was irresistible given then 'Princess' theme - no amount of political correctness could have persuaded me not to use it.<br /><br />The insensitivity of the dinner doesn't strike me as particularly offensive - some guy lost a battle several generations earlier? who cares? What's far worse is the sheer brass arrogance of claiming the victory as something of a credit of his own, though he contributed nothing to it and even the basis of his claim, direct descendance, was false.<br /><br />But just to set the balance straight on the nationalist side, let me tell you a story I once heard from a French friend, set in Napoleonic times, about an English sea captain invited to dinner by his French opposite number (so the meal is on the French ship, thank God, ensuring that the food was not too inedible), on the eve of their battle. <br /><br />At the end of the meal, the Englishman asks: <br /><br />'Why do the French always fight for money and the British for honour?' <br /><br />The Frenchman thinks a moment and replies 'I suppose everyone fights for what they don't have.'David Beesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00393977902379776532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520303675367700778.post-85823351867054088552009-09-25T23:39:46.907+01:002009-09-25T23:39:46.907+01:00I can't think of a more effective means, short...I can't think of a more effective means, short of invading Iraq, of destroying one's reputation for all posterity than this. The book has a car-crash attraction - not on its own merits, just to flip through and ponder "what was he thinking?"<br /><br />(BTW - On D'Estaing's naval themed dinner - might want to soften your criticism of his inter-cultural insensitivities, given that you're calling him a "frog" in the title, <i>Rosbif</i>).strasmarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03332469508592595136noreply@blogger.com