Imaginary, My Dear Watson

- Churchill & Eden following another ugly Commons brawl

In an effort to get the learning in early, I tend to, as you may have already gathered, pick up a Metro on my way into work. Sadly, it's been a wasteland of fact in recent weeks, and that's on the days I can manage to prise it open against someone's face on the train. Today it's back on form though, offering a frankly damning indictment of this once-proud nation's failing pub quiz abilities:

More than half of the population think that Sherlock Holmes was a real person, whilst 1 in 4 think Winston Churchill was not.

Ok, so the actual survey only asked 3,000 people, and you always have to account for the power of suggestion if people were asked whether the individuals above were real or imaginary. That said, it astounds me that even a child of three could get it wrong. Other famous figures that some incredibly believe to be works of fiction include: Richard the Lionheart, Charles Dickens, Gandhi, Cleopatra and Field Marshal Montgomery. Mostly unforgivable, although there are question marks over whether the smug sleuth Sherlock is in fact alive today (though he has let himself go a bit).

On the same page, in what is hopefully a sign that p20 of all future editions of Metro will be devoted solely to Churchill-based news, there's an article that reveals that Churchill had a Blair-Brownesque power struggle with his deputy, the future PM Anthony Eden. And while our modern-day dictators at least kept it civil when duking it out for unelected power (we never technically voted Brown in, but let's face it, nobody was voting for Blair last time out), it seems that when Winston and Tony had a bust-up, the gloves really came off. When Churchill refused to hand over power prior to a conference with US President Eisenhower, Eden shot back with a real zinger: "If I am not competent to meet Eisenhower then that would rule for all time". Ouch! Thankfully, the article has been toned down for more sensitive readers, but QFK can exclusively reveal that later in the same ding-dong exchange, some pretty tasty insults flew around the Cabinet office, including (time to put the kids to bed, don't give them nightmares) 'gadabout' 'ninny' and a final, show-stopping 'absolute shower'...