Cryer - Who said that first?: the curious origins of common words and phrases

After seeing a performance of Hamlet, a little old lady supposedly remarked, So many quotes! But she could well have said the same thing at any other point in her day. We are surrounded by quotes in everyday speech, not necessarily from Shakespeare.

Other bright minds have come up with expressions we now take for granted as part of the English language, and which we use freely in vernacular speech. But unlike Hamlet, the originators of many of our most useful second-hand remarks go uncredited.

Who said it first?

This collection sets out to credit as far as its possible to do so the people who actually created many familiar terms in common use. For example, poor Ernest Dowson is all but forgotten, but author Margaret Mitchell read his 1891 poem Non Sum Qualis and brought one phrase from that poem to the attention of millions. The phrase that caught her eye was ...gone with the wind. (In 1867, Dowson also wrote another familiar phrase: ...the days of wine and roses.)

And who remembers Mrs Daeda Wilcox? In 1887 she told her realtor husband about an attractive name she heard mentioned on a train as she was returning to her home in Los Angeles. Mr Wilcox liked it and immediately registered the land he owned nearby as Hollywood.

Sometimes it has to be acknowledged that an expression became known because someone other than the originator introduced an existing term to a wider public, either in print or by exclamation.

Only a limited number of people would know of Sir Edward Spencer Ford, but in 1992 he wrote a letter to the Queen making a kindly comment on the difficult year shed had. He included a variation on a phrase taken from the title of a 1667 poem by John Dryden.

In a speech soon afterwards, the Queen said:

The term annus horribilis hit the headlines immediately, clearly because of the impact of Elizabeth Windsor saying it, rather than Dryden or Sir Edward Spencer Ford.

This collection does not claim to include every expression in common usage that arose from a specified person there are too many to cover in one book. Two major (and rich) sources of English expressions the Bible and the works of Shakespeare have generally been excluded, partly because they have been covered many times before. One exception can be found under Red Sky, and Bernard Levins brilliant condensation of just some of Shakespeares expressions is reproduced by permission in section entitled The last word.

Some of our favourite and frequently used expressions date back to ancient civilisations and an impressive number come from 19th-century literary luminaries. Dickens, Thackeray and Scott have all left small but active landmarks on our speech but then so has party-girl Mandy Rice-Davies, who simply said, Well he would, wouldnt he?

Sometimes there are gentle surprises: brunch was invented in England in 1896; Graham Greene first linked fame with aphrodisiac; iron curtain had been in use for 40 years before Winston Churchill said it; we have P.G. Wodehouse to thank for straight from the horses mouth; and H. Rider Haggard for She who must be obeyed.

There is no evidence at all that Queen Victoria ever said We are not amused, or that Marie Antoinette said Let them eat cake. But Andy Warhol did say that everyone would be famous for 15 minutes.

Where did he say it, and when? Read on...