The Bucket List

[McBruce]

I do Daily Bulletins at many ACBL Regionals in the area, and spacefillers are always something you need to have prepared. For some time I used quizzes on events that happened on that date, but since the tournaments I cover tend to happen on the same dates each year, it got stale quickly. I recently discovered Wikiquote and switched to famous quotations (guess the speaker), and discovered this one from Sir Winston Churchill (which, along with others, but not the most obvious ones--can't have the answer completely obvious--I'll use in the next set in a few weeks):

 

"Will the shutting out of foreign goods increase the total amount of wealth in this country? Can foreign nations grow rich at our expense by selling us goods under cost price? Can a people tax themselves into prosperity? Can a man stand in a bucket and lift himself up by the handle?"

 

For some reason, this made me laugh more than many of the more familiar other Churchill quips. You can just imagine him saying each of the first three very slowly, with complete sincerity, to an audience hanging on his every word and wondering if they can be true, only to have him shatter all three with the punch line. It would be a natural for bridge. The final sentence stays* and all you need to do is find three preceding bridge sentences where the obvious answer is NO:

 

"Can one succeed at bridge simply by playing a lot, without reading or studying? Is it impossible to score well without the latest conventions and treatments? Are masterpoints an accurate measuring stick of a player's expertise and progress? Can a man stand in a bucket and lift himself up by the handle?"

 

I'm sure you can do even better. And if so, I might use it in a future Daily Bulletin.

 

* Actually, you might even change the last sentence to something absurd but bridge-related, like "Can a player make 3NT on a cross-ruff?"

[pirate22]

Excelllent article------- Churchill as with some others were Born orators.

But the main ingredient is "An English Sense of Humour" There was a Danish Comedian,name escapes me who on USA TV had this quality.Australia has a laid back Humerous outlook on life. Monty Python were a great famous set of persons.

Tommy Cooper {deceased} had the knack as well.

[tgoodwinsr]

Danish comedian -- Victor Borge