RAISING EYEBROWS

It was widely held in the City of London of old that the mere raising of the eyebrows of the Governor of the Bank of England when being told of some new banking whizz was sufficient to signify his magisterial disapproval. Hard-boiled bankers quaked if they were on the receiving end of this subtle rebuke. It is not clear if this eyebrow-twitching was first brought into action in 1866 when the leading discount house Overend & Gurney failed but that was the first time the Bank asserted its power, acted as lender of last resort and averted a more general crash. In any event distinguished Montagu Norman who led the Bank from 1920 to 1944 was certainly hairy-faced enough to muster a fine pair of eyebrows and I am sure he twitched them to good effect.

Montagu Norman, Governor of the Bank of England 1920-44

The ever-resourceful ladies refuse to be brow-beaten and have transformed eyebrows into an extra source of allure. We think of Irene Pappas, Elizabeth Taylor, Brooke Shields and above all of Audrey Hepburn, all possessors of comely and well-thatched eyebrows.

Audrey Hepburn

                                                               

While one would hardly apply the adjective “comely” to Golda Meir, the charismatic Israeli leader had a forceful eyebrow-enhanced face.

Doughty Golda Meir

There was a rich crop of male politicians whose eyebrows bestowed gravitas and instant recognition. France’s WW1 leader Georges Clemenceau, Le Tigre, and Greece’s uniquely competent restorer of democracy Constantine Karamanlis are cases in point.

Georges Clemenceau

Constantine Karamanlis

The most famous pair of eyebrows in British politics belonged to Denis Healey. Denis was originally from the hard Left in 1945 and he was intellectually formidable, drawn towards but not exactly within the circle of Hugh Gaitskell and his acolytes Roy Jenkins and Tony Crosland. Healey became an excellent Defence Secretary in Wilson’s 1960s ministries but was less comfortable as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Wilson and Callaghan governments from 1974-79. Beset by industrial and balance of payments problems, his eyebrows were no help when he was forced to rattle his country’s begging bowl abjectly at the IMF in 1976. That he was ultimately beaten for the leadership by Michael Foot is a testament to the congenital idiocy of the Labour Party.

Denis Healey gestures to his enemies!

Not just the Left sports luxuriant eyebrows. Bernard Ingham, mainstay of Blessed Margaret Thatcher as her press spokesman, recently spoke words of wisdom about Europe.  The European Union is corrupt, useless and riddled with fraud, he observed in a lengthy denunciation.

Bernard Ingham peers out

     

But look at those grotesque eyebrows! I know Bernard is 83 and a Yorkshireman and some poetic licence is permitted, but blimey O’Reilly, Bernard, please apply the scissors immediately!

SMD

29.01.16

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2016