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| Loelia, Duches of Westminster (picture from Wikipedia) |
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| Margaret Thatcher's portrait I took this photograph inside Chelsea Hospital, outside which she and her husband are buried. The real source of the famous bus quotation (r) And the supposed source (above) |
‘Anyone over the age of thirty who travels by bus ought to be regarded as a failure.’
There are various versions of the above saying. Sometimes it is restricted to a man, sometimes to anyone at all. Sometimes the age is twenty five, sometimes thirty. It has been attributed to Margaret Thatcher, although there is no evidence that she ever actually said it. In The Guardian recently Zoe Williams said that it sounded right for her, so that would do. Preaching to the choir there, Zoe. We expect our journalists to base what they write on the facts not to pander to our prejudices.
Mrs Thatcher did say, ‘There is no such thing as society’. I know that to be true because I heard her saying it. It was a rather crass way of putting out the idea that friends, family and neighbours should help those who need it and we should not rely solely on the state. It is a sentiment few of us disagree with, although many would take exception to the way she expressed it. Quoting the line on its own, rather than in the context in which it was said, makes Thatcher sound like a cross between an anarchist and a libertarian – which was not true – and not over-endowed with compassion – which probably was.
Mrs Thatcher was also careful never to be photographed on a train, as though that was beneath her dignity as Prime Minister and a champion of free enterprise. It would always be a limousine, preferably one made by a British firm like Jaguar, or a private jet for Maggie. You can see how the bus quotation travelled across to her.
As soon as I heard it, however, my reaction was to get on a bus so that I could proudly proclaim myself a failure in the eyes of people who think that you have to lord it over others in order to be considered a success. Whatever the age limit for travelling by bus I long ago passed it, but I still quite enjoying meandering journeys on public transport and sometimes feel a bit disappointed to arrive at my destination when you need to stop gazing out of the window.
Recently I did a little digging and found where the saying came from via a worthwhile organisation called Full Fact which helps to correct misapprehensions, counter fake news and debunk conspiracy theories. Their website says that it can be traced back to Loelia, Duchess of Westminster who was used to being ferried around by private chauffeur when she was married to the Duke. He was one of the richest landowners in Britain – the family still own large chunks of central London – but, once they split up, she found herself waiting in the rain for the bus. She was speaking from bitter experience.
However, even Loelia admits in her memoirs that she borrowed the line from a poet called Brian Howard and passed it off as her own. You do not normally think of poets as petrolheads. One of my favourite poems, Philip Larkin’s Whitsun Weddings, is the epitome of a looking out of a train window to watch the world going by poem. John Betjeman was also a champion of train travel and did a great deal to help preserve that ridiculous Victorian edifice, Saint Pancras station. It was later used in a Harry Potter film as a stand-in for its rather duller neighbour King’s Cross.
Not only did the film makers use the wrong station because it looked prettier but they parked Harry and Ron’s ancient Ford Anglia outside it. Unless magic powers were being used, the traffic wardens would soon put a stop to that, as there are red lines everywhere in London these days, especially outside train stations. Central London is for public transport, or bicycles for the young and fit. You can drive your car outside the city if a train does not work for your journey.
I enjoy driving mine and make no apologies for still running a car. I try to keep the mileage down and use public transport whenever I can. That is effectively never at the moment during lockdown. When (if) it ever ends I will go back to riding on a bus – and not be in the least embarrassed if I am considered a failure for doing so. Some people’s high opinion is not worth having – or worth not having.
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The full fact website is: here
My other blog is: diaryofatouristguide
Edwin Lerner
