A Bit of History

[CAT]

Got this in an e-mail and thought I'd pass it along...



His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while
trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry
for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the
bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a
terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming
saved the lad from what could
have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse
surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out
and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had
saved. "I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You
saved my son's life.

"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer
replied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own
son came to the door of the family hovel.

"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied
proudly.
"I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education
my
own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father,
he'll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of." And that he
did.

Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, he
graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in
London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted
Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was
stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this
time? Penicillin.

The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill.

His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill.

As someone once said: What goes around comes around.

[Doug1]

Aint life a funny thing

[dark horge]

I agree wholeheartedly with the moral kernel of the tale,
however, one must be wary of unattributed relations. CAT is
correct to note that the tale comes (from an inscrutable origin)
via e-mail.

My wife Betsy was kind enough to point me to this:

From http://winstonchurchill.org/
maintained by the The Churchill Centre and Societies
-------------
"Did Sir Alexander Fleming Save Churchill's life?

The Churchill-Fleming Non-Connection: The story that Sir Alexander Fleming or his father (the renditions vary) saved Churchill’s life has been roaring around the Internet lately. We must have had fifty emails about it. Charming as it is, it is certainly fiction. The story apparently originated in Worship Programs for Juniors, by Alice A. Bays and Elizabeth Jones Oakbery, published ca. 1950 by an American religious house, in a chapter entitled "The Power of Kindness."

According to Bays/Oakbery, Churchill is saved from drowning in a Scottish lake by a farm boy named Alex. A few years later Churchill telephones Alex to say that his parents, in gratitude, will sponsor Alex’s otherwise unaffordable medical school education. Alex graduates with honours and in 1928 discovers that certain bacteria cannot grow in certain vegetable molds. In 1943 when Churchill becomes ill in the Near East, Alex’s invention, penicillin, is flown out to effect his cure. Thus once again Alexander Fleming saves the life of Winston Churchill.

Dr. John Mather writes: "A fundamental problem with the story is that Churchill was treated for this very serious strain of pneumonia not with penicillin but with ‘M&B,’ a short name for sulfadiazine produced by May and Baker Pharmaceuticals. Since he was so ill, it was probably a bacterial rather than a viral infection as the M&B was successful.

"Kay Halle, in her charming book Irrepressible Churchill (Cleveland: World 1966) comments (p. 196) that Churchill ‘delighted in referring to his doctors, Lord Moran and Dr. Bedford, as M&B.’ Then, when Churchill found that the most agreeable way of taking the drug was with whisky or brandy, he commented to his nurse: ‘Dear nurse, pray remember that man cannot live by M and B alone.’ But there is no evidence in the record that he received penicillin for any of his wartime pneumonias. He did have infections in later life, and I suspect he was given penicillin or some other antibiotic that would have by then become available, such as ampicillin.

Also, Churchill did consult with Sir Alexander Fleming on 27 June 1946 about a staphylococcal infection which had apparently resisted penicillin. See Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran (Boston: Houghton Muffin 1966), p. 335."

Official biographer Sir Martin Gilbert adds that the ages of Churchill and Fleming (or Fleming’s father) do not support the various accounts circulated; Alexander Fleming was seven years younger than Churchill. If he was plowing a field at say age 13, Churchill would have been 20. There is no record of Churchill nearly drowning in Scotland at that or any other age; or of Lord Randolph paying for Alexander Fleming’s education. Sir Martin also notes that Lord Moran’s diaries, while mentioning "M&B," say nothing about penicillin, or the need to fly it out to Churchill in the Near East."
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Life IS a funny thing.

[CAT]

Hi Jorge, too bad it's apparently not true --- still makes a made a good story,and I like the moral ...

[Minnreefer]

I refound this story from my desk, I figured that I probably got it from TRT, it is still a good story

[cath]

You bet, Jon. Thanks for resurrecting it.

[Rick O]

And I thought Horge was back. Anybody heard from him lately?

[Doug1]

Its been far to long since I have heard from him

[Loverotties]

oldie but goodie!

[dark horge]

And I thought Horge was back. Anybody heard from him lately?

Horge?
Who he?

[CAT]

i always get a laugh out of these 'blasts from the past' when they pop up on my e-mail. how do people stumble across 4 yr old posts anyway?

[Spanky]

Originally Posted by dark horge

Horge?
Who he?

[Rick O]

Hey Horge. Good to see you again.

[Doug1]

Horge !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[FishDaddy]

Originally Posted by dark horge

-------------
"Did Sir Alexander Fleming Save Churchill's life?

Somebody always comes along and lets the truth get in the way of a good story!!!

Hey, Horge! So good to see you!

Dick