Ashley Sterne Calendar

Here is a little filler by Ashley Sterne from the 31 October 1931 edition of The Passing Show magazine.  I noted with amusement that Sterne’s quip concerning Keats was recycled in his 1932 novel The Devil’s Own Luck.


Ashley Sterne’s Calendar

October 24 — First Confectionery Exhibition held in London, 1842
   Strain at a gateau and swallow a caramel.

October 25 — Balaclava, 1854
   The original charge of the Light Brigade was made when the first gas-bill was presented.

October 26 — Alfonso the Good, of Leon, born, 1155
   It’s easier to live up to one’s reputation than to die up to one’s epitaph.

October 27 — Captain Cook born, 1728
   Cut your cook according to her broth.

October 28 — Browning Society founded, 1881
   England bore the browning, but Scotland got the burns.

October 29 — John Keats born, 1795
   “A thing of duty is no joy whatever.”

October 30 — London Coal Exchange opened, 1849
   All Fuel’s Day