Book reveals the famous one-liners they never said

Book reveals the famous one-liners they never said

Last updated at 13:16pm on 25th October 2006

It's a one-liner Jim, but not as we know it

Some of history's most famous one liners never existed and are about to be exposed as inventions in a book published this week.

Mr Spock never said: "It's life Jim, but not as we know it" and Sherlock Holmes never actually uttered the words "Elementary, my dear Watson".

What the Star Trek hero actually said was: "No life as we know it" and the closest the fictional detective came to his most quoted phrase was a single use of the word "elementary".

The Star Trek line was first heard in the song Star Trekkin' by The Firm and Sherlock Holmes's line was actually coined by PG Wodehouse in his book Psmith Journalist.

The exposes were compiled by Elizabeth Knowles, who edits the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. They Never Said That will be published by Oxford University Press this week. Former Prime Minister James Callaghan also features in the book.

His famous 1977 comment referring to the Winter of Discontent: "Crisis? What crisis?" was coined by The Sun, which did not think his comments were sufficiently pithy. What he said was: "I don't think other people in the world would share the view that there is mounting chaos"

When asked to name the greatest difficulty facing a Prime Minister, Conservative Harold Macmillan never said: "Events, dear boy, events." His original phrase: "The opposition of events" was altered by someone Ms Knowles is trying to trace.

Princess Diana is also named as a quote adaptor. She changed Prince Charles's TV aside from "Yes, whatever that may mean" to "Whatever 'in love' means."

Ms Knowles, who introduced a misquotations section into the latest Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, said: "The last thing we want is to be seen as clever clogs, saying the quotes are wrong. The fascination lies in how and why they were altered. Misquotations are more interesting than mistakes."