ETON HEAD SAYS HARMFUL HUMOUR IS A DRAWBACK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17836, 3 May 1926, Page 5

ETON HEAD SAYS HARMFUL HUMOUR IS A DRAWBACK.

"I have come to the conclusion that the possession of a sense of humour is not helpful from a maternal point of view,” said Dr Alington. head master of Eton, speaking on the value of a sense of humour at the annual meeting of the Booksellers’ Provident Institution at Stationers’ Hall, London.

With the exception of Shakespeare there was practically no great man of the past who was distinguished for his love of jesting. The Romans, so wonderfully successful in their imperial enterprises, were yet rather dull fellows, and the whole of their literature, so Tai* as we knew it, contained only one oke. referred to Cicero’s story of the man whose mother-in-law hanged herself on a tree in his garden and who received a request from a neighbour for a cutting of the tree the following da}-.

Dr Allington said he found great amusement in reading certain newspapers. The editors of those particular journals seemed to think it a great scoop to get an opinion on a subject of importance from someone who knew nothing whatever about it. Only a few days ago he received a request from a sporting paper for an article embod\*ing suggestions for altering the course of the Grand National. In conclusion he quoted two howlers by Eton bo> r s: “ ‘ Abide with me’ was written by Omar Khayyan.” “A dilemma is what you get from sitting on the horns of a bull.”