The Wit of Whitlam

Self-proclaimed international treasure Gough Whitlam never shied away from a pun, a put-down or a witticism. In this collection of quotes, stories and famous witty remarks, James Carleton, radio presenter and founder of the university club 'The Dewy-Eyed Whitlamites', presents a keepsake of Goughisms that vindicates the Great Man's self-assessment: 'I never said I was immortal, merely eternal.' His wife Margaret was his 'best appointment', he called Malcolm Fraser 'Kerr's cur' after the Dismissal and when Sir Winton Turnbull called out in parliament 'I am a country member', Gough interjected 'I remember'. When it was suggested he was funny, Gough responded: 'Funny! Funny? Witty, yes. Epigrammatic perhaps, but not funny. You make me sound like a clown.'