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Harcourt interpolation

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The Harcourt interpolation was a minor scandal of Victorian London.

The 24 January 1882 edition of The Times included a report of a speech made at Burton upon Trent by Sir William Harcourt, then Attorney General. Into this speech an unknown prankster inserted the parenthetical observation that "The speaker then said that he felt inclined for a bit of fucking".

The piece read:

I saw in a Tory journal the other day a note of alarm, in which they said “Why, if a tenant-farmer is elected for the North Riding of Yorkshire the farmers will be a political power who will have to be reckoned with”. The speaker then said he felt inclined for a bit of fucking. I think that is very likely. (Laughter). But I think it is rather an extraordinary thing that the Tory party have not found that out before.

— The Times, 24 January 1882[1]

The interpolation was not noticed until after the newspaper had been circulated. A revised copy was printed for subscribers, and an apology appeared in the issue for 27 January 1882.

No pains have been spared by the management of this journal to discover the author of a gross outrage committed by the interpolation of a line in the speech of Sir William Harcourt … and it is hoped that the perpetrator of this outrage will be brought to punishment.

— The Times, 27 January 1882[2]

The incident was reported by the Portuguese writer, journalist and diplomat Eça de Queiroz in an article which now forms part of his book Cartas de Inglaterra.

The culprit was apparently not immediately identified, because a similar addition was made to an advertisement for the book Everyday Life in Our Public Schools in the issue of The Times for 12 June 1882. This book was said to include "a glossary of some words used by Henry Irving in his disquisitions upon fucking, which is in common use in these schools".

Notes

  1. ^ The Times, pp. p. 7, col. 4, 24 January 1882 {{citation}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ^ "No pains have been spared...", The Times, pp. p. 9, col. 6, 27 January 1882 {{citation}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

Bibliography

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