Excerpt
ALTHOUGH NOT AS GREAT AS IT COULD HAVE BEEN
When Richard Nixon arrived in Paris for the funeral of French President Georges Pompidou in April 1974, his mind must have been elsewhere. At the airport he declared, "This is a great day for France!"
AND PLEASE GIVE MY REGARDS TO HIS LOVELY WIFE
Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961), the founder of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, once ran into a distinguished-looking woman in the lobby of a hotel. Although he could not remember her name, he thought he knew her. When he engaged her in conversation, he vaguely recollected that she had a brother. Hoping for any clue to her identity, he asked her how her brother was and whether he was still working at the same job. "Oh, he's very well," said Princess Mary about George VI, "and still king."