<< One of these men will be appearing in a panto near you this Christmas
A new feature for Fridays (maybe) - it's Quote of the Week! I've seen two good quotes this week, so it's a dead heat between the following:
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities" - Voltaire
"You know (Tony) Hancock - I had his torture without his genius" - Les Dennis
I've always seen quoting verbatim as being a bit pretentious, but I've got to admit both of these are zingers. I do, however, still need a fact to bring the whole thing together. So what could possibly connect these equally great men, planted in different spheres, across different centuries? They both just won Quote of the Week, but apart from that it's looking bleak. Hang on a minute though:
Voltaire and Les Dennis both used stage names.
Voltaire is an all-out pseudonym - the cheeky Renaissance scamp was really called Francois-Marie Arouet. No wonder he changed it - he had a girl's name. Voltaire was an outspoken supporter of religious freedom, social reform and civil liberties, and is quite partial to an episode of Family Fortunes with his Chinese takeaway. Les Dennis - real name Leslie Dennis Heseltine - was asked to comment on Voltaire's treatises on philosophical optimism, and exclusively told us "I don't really know"...
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