Subject
Fwd: Re: Nabokov & Pushkin's great-grandfather Gannibal
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Dear Don and List...
It is perhaps of slightly ironic interest to note that in the veins of the
next man to sit on the throne of England runs the (much diluted)
blood of the putative Chadian Abram Petrovich Gannibal. The
line of descent is via Pushkin's daughter and the Battenbergs
(aka Mountbattens) to the Duke of Edinburgh and his offspring.
It means very little to a geneticist; but one wonders how meticulously
the Almamach de Gotha has recorded this diminishing fraction of black
blood.
After all, black blood is much more powerful than white. The proof of this
is
that it takes only one drop to make you black. But a black man with one
drop --
let alone a few pints -- of white blood stays black forever
(with the possible exception of Michael Jackson).
So when Charles or William Windsor is crowned I shall look upon it as a
small triumph for
the despised and exploited people of Africa, who are nevertheless the root
of
the Human family tree.
Can I now take my tongue out of my cheek and say sincerely and without
a trace of irony how much I'm missing the List?
Tom (Rymour)
----- End forwarded message -----
It is perhaps of slightly ironic interest to note that in the veins of the
next man to sit on the throne of England runs the (much diluted)
blood of the putative Chadian Abram Petrovich Gannibal. The
line of descent is via Pushkin's daughter and the Battenbergs
(aka Mountbattens) to the Duke of Edinburgh and his offspring.
It means very little to a geneticist; but one wonders how meticulously
the Almamach de Gotha has recorded this diminishing fraction of black
blood.
After all, black blood is much more powerful than white. The proof of this
is
that it takes only one drop to make you black. But a black man with one
drop --
let alone a few pints -- of white blood stays black forever
(with the possible exception of Michael Jackson).
So when Charles or William Windsor is crowned I shall look upon it as a
small triumph for
the despised and exploited people of Africa, who are nevertheless the root
of
the Human family tree.
Can I now take my tongue out of my cheek and say sincerely and without
a trace of irony how much I'm missing the List?
Tom (Rymour)
----- End forwarded message -----