BERIGAN Posted January 20, 2004 Report Posted January 20, 2004 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 http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page....ll&siteid=50143 Quote
brownie Posted January 20, 2004 Report Posted January 20, 2004 (edited) Saw Charlie at the evening news show. Wish I have his stamina when I get to its age. But its repertoire seems to be on the slim side Edited January 20, 2004 by brownie Quote
chris olivarez Posted January 21, 2004 Report Posted January 21, 2004 I can just hear it saying "No I don't want a fucking cracker". Quote
JSngry Posted January 21, 2004 Report Posted January 21, 2004 Well, I might be drunk, but she, sir, is a parrot, and I can sober up. Wasn't that how it went? Quote
Jazzmoose Posted January 21, 2004 Report Posted January 21, 2004 I can just hear it saying "No I don't want a fucking cracker". ...followed by the obligatory "you fucking Nazi bastard!" Quote
JSngry Posted January 21, 2004 Report Posted January 21, 2004 Wait a sec... If you were my parrot, dear lady, I'd LET you! THAT'S how it went, right? Quote
chris olivarez Posted January 21, 2004 Report Posted January 21, 2004 I can just hear it saying "No I don't want a fucking cracker". ...followed by the obligatory "you fucking Nazi bastard!" But of course. Quote
chris olivarez Posted January 21, 2004 Report Posted January 21, 2004 I would have loved to hear what Churchill taught the parrot to say about that opposing member of parliment. Quote
Jazzmoose Posted January 21, 2004 Report Posted January 21, 2004 Wait a sec... If you were my parrot, dear lady, I'd LET you! THAT'S how it went, right? I thought it was "in the morning, I'll be parrot, and you'll still be ugly!" Quote
JSngry Posted January 21, 2004 Report Posted January 21, 2004 Ok, this HAS to be it. "If you were a parrot, I'd let you wake up in the morning, but I'd still be sober!" Right? Quote
Jazzmoose Posted January 21, 2004 Report Posted January 21, 2004 Hmmm...that one's kinda creepy, Jim! Quote
JSngry Posted January 21, 2004 Report Posted January 21, 2004 Thank God! I was beginning to feel like Jethro Modine! Quote
Jazzmoose Posted January 21, 2004 Report Posted January 21, 2004 You guys talking about the one out by the cement pond puttin' the moves on the parrot? Quote
JSngry Posted January 21, 2004 Report Posted January 21, 2004 No, that's that Matthew Bodine, the hilbilly movie star, and son of Ravi Shankar's hairdresser, Kenna Combovver-Aftadinna. Confusing, I know, but I got this damn 100 year old parrot squaking at me while I'm trying to think. YOU try it! So, this bird is 108 years old? And spent how many years with Churchill? So much for the harmful effects of secondhand smoke! Quote
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