PM Facts

[KnifeWife]

Geesh....
Those of you "across the waters" sure do like to keep secrets.
I found some though.

In 1943 British prime minister Winston Churchill made an unusual request by cable to the Australian prime minister. Had the Germans intercepted the message, suspicions would have been high, for Churchill had asked that he be sent six duckbill platypuses. The message was not in code, and Churchill had not gone batty. He simply liked unusual animals and thought that having some of the curious little creatures he had read about would be a welcome distraction from the world war that raged around England.

Earl Grey of Howick Hall, near Craster, was one of Britain?s most popular Prime Ministers. As Prime Minister, he also once sent a diplomatic mission to China and by chance the envoy saved the life of a Chinese Madarin. In gratitude, the Mandarin sent the Earl a delightfully scented tea, with its recipe. The special ingredient with which it was flavoured was oil of Bergamot. Earl Grey was delighted and in future always asked his tea merchant ? the Tyneside company, Twinings, for that blend. His drawing room soon became famous for its tea and in due course the family gave permission for the blend to be sold to the public. Today, Earl Grey is the world?s most popular blend and is sold in more than 90 countries.

The last private resident of Downing's terrace was a Mr. Chicken. Sadly, little is known about him except that he moved out in the early 1730's when King George II presented the house on Downing Street, and the house overlooking Horse Guards, to his Principle Minister Sir Robert Walpole. Walpole, who is regarded as the first British Prime Minister, refused the property as a personal gift. Instead he asked the King to make it available to him, and future First Lords of the Treasury, in their official capacity. The King agreed, and to this day Prime Ministers occupy Number 10, not as the Prime Minister, but as the First Lord of the Treasury.

John Major was the son of a trapeze artist and failed garden gnome manufacturer.

Spencer Perceval is, unfortunately, best remembered for being the only Prime Minister to have been assassinated.