Today -100: November 27, 1923: Don’t laugh at religion

Nominations are closed for next month’s British Parliamentary elections. 50 of the 615 seats are unopposed. Of the remaining candidates, 500 are Tories, 443 Liberals, 420 Labour and 20 other. Neither Conservatives nor Labourites are willing to stand aside for Liberals, so there’ll be a large number of three-cornered contests. There are 34 women running (8 will win, but the other 26 are all running against incumbents). T.P. O’Connor is the Father of the House of Commons, the longest-serving MP, having sat since 1885; he is the last remaining Irish Nationalist MP, although representing Liverpool.

The campaign we’ve been hearing the most about is Lady Astor’s in Plymouth, where she’s been facing a systematic heckling campaign. Making some sort of case against socialism based on religion, she responds to jeering, “Don’t laugh at religion” and calls it blasphemy. She responds to one heckler (his remarks are not given), “Don’t be cheeky, or I will knock that pipe out of your mouth.” Must be one of those zingers she’s known for.

King Alfonso of Spain, visiting Italy, is invested a corporal in the Fascista militia.

Adolf Hitler starts a (snicker) hunger strike in jail.

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