"
George [Brown, Harold Wilson’s deputy, a notorious drunk with an eye for women] made a beeline for a gorgeously crimson-clad figure and said “Excuse me, can I have the pleasure of this dance?”
There was a terrible silence for a moment before the guest, who knew who he was, replied: “There are three reasons, Mr Brown, why I will not dance with you. The first, I fear, is that you’ve had a little too much to drink. The second is that this is not, as you seem to suppose, a waltz the orchestra is playing but the Peruvian national anthem for which you should be standing to attention. And the third reason why we may not dance, Mr Brown, is that I am the Cardinal Archbishop of Lima.
"— Philip Coggan quotes Dominic Sandbrook’s White Heat.
