On 1 May 1996, Mark Adams, a private secretary at 10 Downing Street, sent the Department of Health a letter that an MP had written to the prime minister. His covering note read: “I should be grateful if you would provide a draft reply for the Prime Minister’s signature, to reach this office by 15 May.”
You Must Stay at Home
On 23 March 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the nation on television about the coronavirus: “From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction – you must stay at home.” The Yorkshire Post called it “the order that had never before been issued, even when Britain was at war.”
He closed the same address with a request: “And therefore I urge you at this moment of national emergency to stay at home, protect our NHS and save lives.”
Action This Day
During the Second World War, Winston Churchill attached red labels reading “Action This Day” to memos that needed immediate attention. Everyone understood that a task marked this way was to be completed within twenty-four hours.
In 1941, codebreakers at Bletchley Park wrote to him that they were short of staff. Churchill added his label and wrote: “Action this day! Make sure they have all they want on extreme priority and report to me that this has been done.”
Wets and Dries
In 1979 and 1980, Margaret Thatcher began to call the moderate members of her own cabinet “wets.” In British slang, wet meant weak, “inept, ineffectual, effete.” Her own supporters became known as the “dries.”
Dick Here Meets Her Regularly
Richard Griffin, a former royal protection officer, has told a story about walking near Balmoral with Queen Elizabeth II. They met two American tourists who did not recognize her. When one of them asked whether she had ever met the Queen, she answered: “I haven’t, but Dick here meets her regularly.”
The story rests on Griffin’s account alone. Reports of the conversation differ in their details.
SODS Opera
In the Royal Navy, a SODS Opera is an informal show put on by the sailors of the lower decks. A study of amateur theater in the navy describes these shows as produced “to satirise and ridicule the ship’s company.” The name is often explained as short for Ship’s Operatic and Drama Society.
Prehistoric Banter
In January 2011, recordings leaked of remarks that the Sky Sports presenters Richard Keys and Andy Gray had made off air. Believing their microphones were switched off, they disparaged the assistant referee, Sian Massey. Sky sacked Gray on 25 January, and Keys resigned the next day.
Keys later said: “Our prehistoric banter is not acceptable in a modern world.”
Dragged to the Chair
When the House of Commons elects a new Speaker, the Speaker-elect is expected to show reluctance. Other MPs drag him or her to the Speaker’s chair. Sir Lindsay Hoyle was dragged to the chair in 2019.
The custom is usually explained by the Speaker’s old duty of carrying the views of the Commons to the monarch. A monarch who disliked the message could order the Speaker’s death. According to ITV News, “the exact origins of the tradition are not known.”
Look Around
Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St Paul’s Cathedral, is buried in its crypt. His son composed his Latin epitaph: Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice. “Reader, if you seek his monument, look around.”
First Among Equals
The Institute for Government, a London think tank, describes the position of the British prime minister in Latin: “The prime minister is primus inter pares (first among equals) in the UK cabinet system.”