Nancy Astor & Winston Churchill - Thomas Hardy - India: Nature's Wonderland TV - Father Ted TV - Simon Schama TV - America: The Story of the US TV - James Burke TV - William Congreve - The Royle Family TV - This World TV - Lewis Carroll - Joe Pasquale - William Cobbett - Robert Anderson - Henry Fielding - Samuel Johnson - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Charles Dickens - Percy Bysshe Shelley - Xu Guangqi - Rupert Brooke - George Orwell - Edmund Waller - Aravind Adiga - Jane Austen - Robert Tressell - R C Sherriff - Mark Thomas TV - Inside the World’s Greatest Hotels TV - Simon Reeve TV -
85,375. Lady Nancy Astor: Winston, if you were my husband, I’d poison your tea.
Churchill: Nancy, if I were your husband, I’d drink it. (Poison & Husband & Tea) attributed & variations
95,241. The kettle descants in a cozy drone,
And the young wife looks in her husband’s face,
And then at her guest’s, and shows in her own
Her sense that she fills an envied place;
And the visiting lady is all abloom,
And says there was never so sweet a room.
And the happy young housewife does not know
That the woman beside her was first his choice,
Till the fates ordained it could not be so ...
Betraying nothing in look or voice
The guest sits smiling and sips her tea,
And he throws her a stray glance yearningly. Thomas Hardy, At Tea
87,573. India is well known for its tea ... It produces over a million tons of it a year. (India & Tea) India: Nature’s Wonderland I, BBC 2015
79,202. Are you sure you won’t have some tea, Paul?
No, I’m fine. (Comedy & Catholicism & Priest & Island & Tea) Father Ted s1e2: Entertaining Father Stone
13,151. Didn’t our Lord himself on the cross pause for a nice cup of tea before giving himself up for the world? (Comedy & Catholicism & Priest & Island & Tea & Cross & Crucifixion) Father Ted: Hell s2e7, Mrs Doyle
28,433. Then in one notorious incident the tormented Redcoats opened fire before the Statehouse; five Bostonians were left dead on the street. Shocked by the killings over the next three years both sides let things calm down. Eventually the British dropped all their taxes except one: that on tea. (United States of America & Tax & Tea & Boston) Simon Schama, A History of Britain: The Wrong Empire
28,456. Britain has repealed all taxes except one: on tea. In one of the most famous acts of resistance in history, rebels dump over $1,000,000 worth of tea into Boston Harbor. The British respond by closing down Boston Harbor. (United States of America & Boston & Tax & Tea) America: The Story of the US: Rebels
67,267. In the seventeenth century when the first Dutch traders arrived out here they found all the locals from the Emperor down sitting around drinking tea ... At the same time asking questions ... The Zen Buddhist tea ceremony was supposed to help you find infinite oneness and universal understanding. (Civilisation & Tea) James Burke, Connections II 1994: Echoes of the Past s2e6
67,293. Tea: by the late 1800s we Brits were importing oh eighteen million pounds of it a year, mostly from China. (Civilisation & Tea) James Burke: Connections II 1994: Hot Pickle s2e12
67,303. The Yankee Clipper. In 1851 the fastest [tea] ship in the world. (Civilisation & Tea) James Burke, Connections II 1994: Making Waves s2e15
69,105. Retired to their tea and scandal, according to their custom. (Custom & Tea & Scandal) William Congreve 1670-1729, The Double Dealer
72,377. I am making a brew. Even though that’s my favourite programme, I am making a brew. And do you know why? Because I’m a family man. (Family & Tea) The Royle Family s2e5: Barbara Finally Has Enough, Jim, BBC 1999
90,589. I’m travelling more than a thousand miles across east Africa to meet the people who supply us with our national drink. Behind each cup is an army of pickers, packers, growers and truckers. Tea is a massive industry employing millions of people. This World: The Tea Trail with Simon Reeve, BBC 2015
90,590. East Africa is where most of the tea that we drink in Britain actually comes from. ibid.
90,591. Child labour is a huge issue. ibid.
90,592. Tea is keeping them poor. ibid.
95,147. ‘Yes, that’s it!’ said the Hatter with a sigh, ‘it’s always tea time.’ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
90,593. ‘Take some more tea,’ the March Hare said to Alice. ibid.
90,594. I’ve just had some bad news about my granddad. Apparently, my granddad has come back from the doctor’s this week – he can only get excited by putting his willy in a hot mug of water. It’s not my cup of tea. Joe Pasquale, live on stage, cited The 100 Greatest Comedians 2010
90,595. Free yourselves from the slavery of the tea and coffee and other slop-kettle. (Tea & Coffee) William Cobbett 1762-1835, English political reformer
90,596. Tea and Sympathy. Robert Anderson, title of play
90,597. Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea. Henry Fielding 1707-54, Love in Several Masques
90,598. A hardened and shameless tea-drinker who has for twenty years diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and with tea welcomes the morning. Samuel Johnson, Literary Magazine vol II
90,601. Tea’s proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence. Samuel Johnson
90,599. I say let the world go to hell, but I should always have my tea. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground
90,600. My dear, if you could give me a cup of tea to clear my muddle of a head I should better understand your affairs. Charles Dickens, Mrs Lirriper's Legacy
90,602. Though we eat little flesh and drink no wine,
Yet let’s be merry; we’ll have tea and toast;
Custards for supper, and an endless host
Of syllabubs and jellies and mincepies,
And other such ladylike luxuries. Percy Bysshe Shelley
90,603. The cup of tea on arrival at a country house is a thing which, as a rule, I particularly enjoy. I like the crackling logs, the shaded lights, the scent of buttered toast, the general atmosphere of leisured coziness. P G Wodehouse
90,604. Tea is a divine herb. Xu Guangqi
90,605. Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea? Rupert Brooke, The Old Vicarage, Grantchester
90,606. Tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country. George Orwell, Smothered under journalism 1946
90,607. Tea does our fancy aid,
Repress those vapours which the head invade
And keeps that palace of the soul serene. Edmund Waller, Of Tea
94,553. Go to a tea shop anywhere along the Ganga, sir, and look at the men working in that tea shop – men, I say, but better call them human spiders that go crawling in between and under the tables with rages in their hands, crushed humans in crushed uniforms, sluggish, unshaven, in their thirties and forties or fifties but still ‘boys’. (Shop & Tea) Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger p51
94,599. But indeed I would rather have nothing but tea. Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
96,492. For seats, two pairs of steps laid on their sides parallel to each other, about eight feet apart and at right angles to the fireplace, with the long plank placed across; and the upturned pails and the drawers of the dresser. The floor unswept and littered with dirt, scraps of paper, bits of plaster, pieces of lead pipe and dried mud; and in the midst the steaming bucket of stewed tea and the collection of cracked cups, jam-jars and condensed milk tins. And on the seats in their shabby and in some cases ragged clothing sitting and eating their coarse food and cracking jokes. (Working Class & Work & Tea) Robert Tressell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist
98,750. Mason: Will you have a nice cup of tea, sir?
Stanhope: Can you guarantee it’s nice?
Mason: Well, sir – it’s a bit oniony, but that’s only because of the saucepan. (World War I & Tea) R C Sherriff, Journey’s End
99,463. European Parliament: If you sit in on the sessions, they go round with the tea trolley. They serve everyone there cups of tea. (European Union & Tea) Mark Thomas Comedy Product s5e2
132,835. Afternoon tea is now served well into the evening. (Hotel & Tea) Inside the World’s Greatest Hotels: The Ritz aka Secrets of the Ritz: The Word’s Poshest Hotel, Channel 5 2020
136,187. Green ants’ nest tea – it’s smoky and citrusy, it’s pretty tasty. (Australia & Tea & Ants) Australia with Simon Reeve II, BBC 2020