Punchy humour

The Charivaria section of the Punch magazine is always good for a little amusement, as it pops out pithy comments and witty one-liners each week, based on news of the week previous (here, 3rd Nov, 1920).  If t’were written now, it would be one of those emails people forward round the office on a Monday afternoon, even though it’s not all that funny.

Found under a bed in a strange house at Grimsby, a man told the police who arrested him that he was looking for work. It was pointed out to him that the usual place for men looking for work is in bed, not under it.

A small boy, born in a Turkish harem, is said to have forty-eight step-mothers living. Our office-boy, however, is still undefeated in the matter of recently defunct grandmothers.

From an account of Sir J. FORBES-ROBERTSON’S début:–

“It was interesting to remember that in the audience on that occasion were Dante, Gabriel, Rossetti and Algernon Charles Swinburne.”–Provincial Paper.

The archangel was a great catch.