“When a man marries his mistress, he creates a job vacancy”:
a) David Lloyd George
b) Sir James Goldsmith
c) Henry VIII
d) John of Gaunt
e) Edward IV
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5 responses to “Who said:”
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I lay odds on Henry VIII
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A or B I don’t think the others would understand the concept of job vacancy
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B: Sir James Goldsmith
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It was indeed Sir James Goldsmith.
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Sir James Goldsmith certainly used the phrase, and is often quoted as doing so, but he appears to have borrowed the saying from the Russian-born, French “bon viveur” Sacha Guitry (1885-1957). He was a “French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre.”
Guitry’s family life was almost as complicated as Goldsmith’s; he married five times. The quote is mentioned a magazine article on Goldsmith [“Billionaire with a Cause” by Sally Bedell Smith, Vanity Fair (May 1997)]
“… in 1976 Goldsmith’s unusual conjugal lifestyle became public knowledge — an arrangement that has been immortalized by his oft quoted quip, ‘When a man marries his mistress, he creates a job vacancy.’ Goldsmith admits the quote was coined by the French actor and playwright Sacha Guitry, who was married five times. After once offering a translation at a dinner party, Goldsmith was tagged with its authorship. ‘I regret not having said it myself,’ he says. ‘It is quite funny. What can I do except laugh about it?’ ”
http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1997/05/goldsmith199705
For Guitry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacha_Guitry
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0347589/bio
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sacha-GuitryLikeLike
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