Timeless Question"A man whom we had never seen before was wished on us for luncheon one day... He was placed next to my sister [Edith Sitwell], and took it into his head to enquire of her: 'Do you remember this house being built, Miss Sitwell?'
"Mrs. Alice Keppel overheard this, and said to him quickly: 'My dear man, be careful! Not even the nicest girl in the world likes to be asked if she is four hundred years old.'"
Sitwell, Dame Edith (1887-1964) British poet, daughter of Sir George Sitwell, sister of Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell [noted for for her campaign against "bourgeois philistinism," for her letters and collections of poems, and for such works as A Poet's Notebook, The Shadow of Cain, Bath, I Live Under a Black Sun, and Facade(a collection of poems set to music composed by William Walton, 1922)]
[Sources: O. Sitwell, Tales my Father Taught Me]More Dame Sitwell anecdotesRelated Anecdote Keywords:
Vanity Insults Verbal Bloopers Quips Witty Replies Old Age Architecture Time Manners Propriety Women Surprises
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