The Good Old Colonial Times

An exchange of letters at the beginning of colonial times in Africa.

No joke this. On Sky news at the weekend.

They were rabbiting on about archivers and historians sniffing through tons and I mean tons, of papers in the vaults of the British Library (what a place that is!), and they came across an exchange of letters between two blokes.

This is 1800 and voetsack, yia sailing ship or whatever – between the UK and some backwater in Africa.

So the bloke in Africa writes – Dear James, sorry to tell you that your brother/cousin (or whatever), George, has died. I will be sending his body to the UK for burial. Regards, Harry.

Next letter is a reply. – Dear Harry, many thanks but there seems to be a mistake. Upon opening the temporary coffin, we discovered a large crocodile. Best regards, James.

Some time later – Dear James, no mistake, George is in crocodile. Kindest regards, Harry.

And I kid you not. The whole Sky team were pissing with laughter.