Leave it to the Scots to take all the fun out of it:
(extracts from
The New ScotsmanMystery Deepens over 'Churchill's Parrot'
By John Bingham, PA News
The mystery of whether a foul-mouthed 104-year-old parrot really was wartime prime minister Winston Churchill’s feathered friend deepened today as experts threw doubt on the claims.
Charlie, a blue and yellow macaw thought by his owner to be the oldest bird in Britain, has long since retired from public life and is living out his days in a garden centre in Reigate, Surrey.
His owner, Peter Oram, claims his father-in-law Percy Dabner sold Charlie to the future war leader at his Croydon pet shop in 1937 and later took the bird back after Sir Winston’s death in 1965.
He says Charlie may have picked up his repertoire of swear words from the wartime leader, who was voted the Greatest Briton in a BBC poll last year.
But the Churchill family has questioned the story and experts doubt whether or not the former prime minister, ever owned a parrot.
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Another story about the efficacy of the British Medical system, and the severity of their justice:
Kidney Blunder Surgeons Suspended
By Tony Jones and Tim Moynihan PA News
Two surgeons who wrongly removed a patient’s only functioning kidney were today found guilty of serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council in London.
The Committee ordered that consultant urologist John Gethin Roberts, who supervised the operation on 69-year-old John Graham Reeves, and medical registrar Mahesh Goel, who carried out the procedure, should be suspended for 12 months.
Korean War veteran Mr Reeves had his good left kidney removed by the two surgeons instead of his chronically-diseased right one.
der Brucer (Yes, it's still running :
