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F*** THE NAZIS, SAYS CHURCHILL'S PARROT
Jan 19 2004
EXCLUSIVE
By Bill Borrows
SHE WAS at Winston Churchill's side during Britain's darkest hour. And now Charlie the parrot is 104 years old...and still cursing the Nazis.
Her favourite sayings were "F*** Hitler" and "F*** the Nazis". And even today, 39 years after the great man's death, she can still be coaxed into repeating them with that unmistakable Churchillian inflection.
Many an admiral or peer of the realm was shocked by the tirade from the bird's cage during crisis meetings with the PM.
But it always brought a smile to the war leader's face.
Churchill bought Charlie - giving him a boy's name despite the fact she was female - in 1937.
She took pride of place in a bizarre menagerie of pets including lambs, pigs, cattle, swans and, at one point, a leopard.
He immediately began to teach her to swear - particularly in company - and she is keeping up the tradition today.
The blue and gold macaw is believed to be Britain's oldest bird.
The title was previously thought to belong to 80-year-old Cokky the cockatoo.
But it can be proved Charlie is at least 104 and was born in the 19th century.
Peter Oram bought her for his pet shop after Churchill died in 1965. But he was forced to move her into his home after she kept swearing at children.
For the last 12 years, she has lived at Mr Oram's garden centre in Reigate, Surrey.
Centre worker Sylvia Martin said: "If truth be told, Charlie is looking a little scruffy but she is very popular with the public. We are all very attached to her."
James Humes, an expert on the late PM, said: "Churchill may no longer be with us but that spirit and those words of defiance and resolve continue."
Charlie's story is in this month's Jack Magazine, on sale Thursday
F*** THE NAZIS, SAYS CHURCHILL'S PARROT
Jan 19 2004
EXCLUSIVE
By Bill Borrows
SHE WAS at Winston Churchill's side during Britain's darkest hour. And now Charlie the parrot is 104 years old...and still cursing the Nazis.
Her favourite sayings were "F*** Hitler" and "F*** the Nazis". And even today, 39 years after the great man's death, she can still be coaxed into repeating them with that unmistakable Churchillian inflection.
Many an admiral or peer of the realm was shocked by the tirade from the bird's cage during crisis meetings with the PM.
But it always brought a smile to the war leader's face.
Churchill bought Charlie - giving him a boy's name despite the fact she was female - in 1937.
She took pride of place in a bizarre menagerie of pets including lambs, pigs, cattle, swans and, at one point, a leopard.
He immediately began to teach her to swear - particularly in company - and she is keeping up the tradition today.
The blue and gold macaw is believed to be Britain's oldest bird.
The title was previously thought to belong to 80-year-old Cokky the cockatoo.
But it can be proved Charlie is at least 104 and was born in the 19th century.
Peter Oram bought her for his pet shop after Churchill died in 1965. But he was forced to move her into his home after she kept swearing at children.
For the last 12 years, she has lived at Mr Oram's garden centre in Reigate, Surrey.
Centre worker Sylvia Martin said: "If truth be told, Charlie is looking a little scruffy but she is very popular with the public. We are all very attached to her."
James Humes, an expert on the late PM, said: "Churchill may no longer be with us but that spirit and those words of defiance and resolve continue."
Charlie's story is in this month's Jack Magazine, on sale Thursday
no subject
Date: 2004-01-20 10:50 pm (UTC)About 10 years ago, in college, I worked as a cashier for a petshop. We had an African Gray on consignment, beautiful bird. But some fool of an owner had let the thing live in a household with a newborn infant. So the bird learned to do a remarkably accurate imitation of a infant crying, which it continued to do incessantly despite the absence of the baby-no doubt the reason the owners wanted it off their hands. It was so convincing that customers were always hearing it and going on the hunt for the crying baby-some of them even refused to believe that the bird was doing it until they actually saw it.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-20 11:43 pm (UTC)Makes for great stories though...
For the Birds
Date: 2004-01-21 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-23 10:48 pm (UTC)i love it
Date: 2004-03-17 03:27 am (UTC)please keep it up :)
regards
mola
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