who said it?

[hiflier]

'Try everything once except folk dancing and incest'. Only one person could have come up with this saying the first time round, yet at least five well known people are supposed to have done so, including Sir Arnold Bax, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Thomas Beecham and Oscar Wilde, not to mention that good old stand-by, Anon. Does anyone know definitively who started the phrase rolling?

[hiflier]

Whoops! Add two more possibles to the list: George Bernard Shaw and George S. Kaufman (who he?)

[heathfield]

Attributed to so many people that the origin seems to be lost. Hopefully, whoever said it first didn't mean to try folk dancing and incest more than once!

[Ethel]

This site puts it to Sir Thomas Beecham

Try everything once except incest and folk dancing.--Sir Thomas Beecham (1879--1961), British conductor


http://littlecalamity.tripod.com/Quotes/A.html

Would he be famous for his sayings before Wilde, Churchill, Bax et al?

[tomtech]

not quite sure , but never tried folk dancing!

[Sphinx_Svens]

How was the incest, tomtech?

[ugly_bob]

incest - fun for all the family

[jno]

I've heard Beecham. 'Folk-dancing' doesn't sound quite right for Wilde, he'd be more likely to have said 'waltzing' or something.