A bastard classic! From Letters of Note …
At the height of World War II on April 6th, 1943, the British Ambassador to Moscow, Sir Archibald Clark Kerr, wrote a letter to Foreign Office minister Lord Reginald Pembroke in an effort to simply brighten up his day–a letter which has since become a classic piece of correspondence for reasons that will soon become obvious. The letter is indeed hilarious, and proof, if it were needed, that name-based punnery and mild xenophobia did a roaring trade long before the Internet was fired up.
In this photo, Kerr is fourth from left in the pinstripe suit.
Great find!
From the fascinating To My Old Master:
” I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.”
“Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.”
Damn.