History

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.

 

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