What candidates used to say in leaflets: the tiger, the earthquake and four snakes
The potted candidate biographies which appear in election leaflets these days are so dull compared to a gem from 1945, which I found in The British General Election of 1945.
The rest of the world may know the 1945 election as the one in which Labour won a landslide, ousting Winston Churchill. But to me it is also the one with the tiger, the earthquake and the pythons:
His most thrilling weekend was when he shot and killed a tiger which had for months killed the coolies’ cattle; a few hours later he was in an earthquake which damaged his bungalow, and a few hours later still a coolie was murdered within a hundred yards of his bungalow.
On another occasion he shot four python snakes, the largest being eighteen foot long.
No sheep though. For that, you have to turn to 1964.
How far would a racist who kills wildlife get today?