Read a lovely anecdote this week. A judge told how he'd presided over a case of indecency where the young female witness was too embarrassed to say aloud what the defendant had said to her. She was invited to write it down in a note which was duly passed to the jurors. "Would you care for a screw?" it read. There was an old gent sitting on the jury who'd dropped off. So when the young attractive juror to his left passed him the note, he woke up, looked at it, smiled and put it in his pocket. The Judge interjected and told him to return the note. The old guy smiled, patted his pocket and said, "It's a private matter, my Lord".
It made me smile. It obviously referrred to a bygone age with the use of the phrase, "Would you care for..?" Real Downton-speak.
It reminded me of a joke my father would tell of the deaf judge who asking the villain in the dock if he had anything to say for himself in the light of the heinous crime he'd committed.
"Bugger all, me Lord," he replied.
The Judge turns and asks his Clerk what the defendant had said.
The Clerk coughs nervously, and says,
"Bugger all, me Lord".
"Really? "says the Judge, "I could have sworn I saw his lips move!"
No trace of Downton in my dad.
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