Who was Gordon Bennett?
Roger Maynard, by email
A If you’re looking for the origins of the popular British exclamation of surprise, anger or shock, the usual explanation centres on American press baron (James) Gordon Bennett Jr (1841– 1918). Bennett was well known on both sides of the Atlantic as a sportsman, playboy and sponsor of aviation and motor racing contests. His fame was amplified by colourful tales about his outrageous behaviour, such as the one about how he turned up drunk to dine with his future in-laws and disgraced himself by urinating in the fireplace.
It’s not hard to see why, in an age when swearing and blasphemy were much more frowned upon, anyone considering taking the name of the Almighty in vain might utter a satisfyingly euphemistic “Gor… don Bennett!” instead.
But we don’t know for sure that this Gordon was the sole inspiration for the saying. The first known documented use of the term doesn’t appear until a novel of 1937. It may well be that several other Gordon Bennetts kept it current, such as General (Henry) Gordon Bennett, an Australian commander who controversially escaped from Singapore in 1942, leaving his men to be captured by the Japanese. Whoever originated it, British TV dramas and sitcoms of the 1960s and 70s also kept the name fresh. Scripts requiring coarse language – at a time when even ‘ bloody’ was considered shocking – employed the numerous lesser profanities current at the time, and shows such as Steptoe and Son and Till Death Us Do Part certainly used ‘Gordon Bennett!’ with hearty enthusiasm.