Churchill?

[Garson O'Toole]

The recent tragic cruise ship accident has heightened interest in some
words attributed to Winston Churchill (and Noel Coward) as David A.
Daniel noted.

I posted a quick note on the Quote Investigator blog that might be
useful to journalists and others interested in this topic. Feedback
appreciated. It probably is possible to push back the 1932 date of the
Noel Coward ascription.

None of This Nonsense about Women and Children First
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/01/21/nonsense-first/

Here is the ending acknowledgement.
Many thanks to David A. Daniel and Thomas S. Acton whose inquiries
inspired the formulation of this question and gave impetus to this
exploration. Special thanks to researcher Stephen Goranson who rapidly
identified the early association with Noel Coward.

Here is the most interesting citation that I have not included yet
because I haven't checked it on paper. I do not know the exact month,
year, author, etcetera.

Title: The Canadian magazine
Volumes: 77-78
Year: Circa 1932
Page: 32 according to GB and HathTrust
http://books.google.com/books?id=c7UcAQAAMAAJ&q=jesting#search_anchor

[Begin extracted text]
Noel Coward's gift for jesting often gets him into difficulties as
when he told some people that he was going to "sail on a French liner,
where there is none of this nonsense about women and children first",
and the widely printed remarks evoked no end of unfavorable criticism.
[End extracted text]

Garson

On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 7:19 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Churchill?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Related, though not Churchill:
>
> Noel Coward, of course, had his expected joke about ocean travel....A friend heard he was sailing, not flying, supposed he would sail on the Queen; not at all, Sir Noel bantered, and named a foreign line he was about to take; why, asked his friend, and Sir Noel, in famed Cowardly fashion, explained "None of that nonsense about women and children first."
>
> I Luxury Liner You Ye Going! .
> ýSarasota Journal - Aug 5, 1971
>
> http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YvgeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DI0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5069,773928&dq=nonsense-about-women-and-children-first&hl=en
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of David A. Daniel [dad at POKERWIZ.COM]
> Sent: Friday, January 20, 2012 6:57 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: [ADS-L] Churchill?
>
> This has been circulating ever since the accident. Any chance it was really
> Churchill? If not, anyone know who it really was?
>
> "A friend reminded me of a comment made by Winston Churchill.
> After his retirement he was cruising the Mediterranean on an Italian cruise
> liner and some Italian journalists asked why an ex British Prime Minister
> would choose an Italian ship.
> 'There are three things I like about being on an Italian cruise ship,' said
> Churchill.
> 'First, their cuisine is unsurpassed.
> Second, their service is superb.
> And then, in case of an emergency, there is none of this nonsense about
> women and children first.'"
>
> DAD
>
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>
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