"Fog in English Channel: Continent Isolated" antedated to 1931

[Michael Quinion]

> In 1932, the NYTimes referred to the Times of London ("The Thunderer") as
> the source of the quote. Has anyone checked their archives?

Yes. It isn't there. Plenty of references to fog in the Channel, though.
The story belongs with "Small Earthquake in Chile", another apocryphal
Times headline (said to have been the result of a competition among sub-
editors to find the most boring headline and to have been won by Claud
Cockburn).

--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org

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