Professor Joad

[rescuer]

As a boy I remember listening to the 'Brains Trust' on radio.
One of the frequent members of the panel was Professor Joad. One of his regular comments when asked a question was: "Well, it depends what you mean by..." He was a philospher and was always precise.
I remember one of his wise comments regarding the need to be explicit. He said in a restaurant he asked the waitress for poached egg with toast. She brought him paoched egg ON toast. When he pointed out that she had not brought what he ordered she said it was the same.
In reply he pointed out, as an example, that there was a big difference between "a woman with child" and "a woman in child."
Does anyone remember Prof Joad and this example?

[fredpuli47]

Yes, but I don't understand his example ! Isn't 'with child' an obsolete expression meaning pregnant ? Never heard of 'in child' but guess that it , too, means pregnant, because we say that a mare is 'in foal' when she is pregnant. So the two seem to mean exactly the same thing and there is no difference , big or otherwise, between them

[rescuer]

Yes he probably said ''woman and child'.
It would be nice to have someone tell us that they can actually remember what he said.

[JonnyBoy12]

Think the expression being "with child" is mostly used in archaic terms, and in the Bible, i.e. Mary was "heavy with child" in Bethlehem whilst she and Joseph were seeking room at the inn.

I know that cats who are pregnant are said to be "in kitten" so suppose that is the right term for all animals.

[chakka35]

Mr C E M Joad was a dreadful man. He wasn't a professor, though he managed to con the BBC into thinking he was.

His BBC producer described him as 'an immensely vain individual', a judgement borne out by the titles of some of his books like The Book of Joad and </>The Testament of Joad. The tiniest diagreement with an opinion of his would throw him into a towering rage and he would storm off.
His attitude to women was that the only purpose they served on the planet was to meet the sexual needs of men. He once said that he had no interest in speaking with a woman unless she was willing to sleep with him. Those who did succumb he always called Maureen in case he made a slip of the tongue when with them.

He was notoriously mean, never having been known to buy his round in a pub, and this was his undoing.
On January 5 1948 he boarded an Exeter train at Paddington with his secretary (whom he was happy to talk to. Mmm...). She bought a ticket but he didn't. When the ticket collector came round he lied and said that he had got on at Salisbury. The dining-room attendant denied this and testified that Joad had booked a dinner table when he had first got on at Paddington. It turned out that Joad was fond of travelling without a ticket and he was prosecuted this time, found guilty and fined.
The BBC dropped him in favour of Commander King-Hall.

Joad's authority was gone. He took up Christianity and died of cancer in 1953, aged 62.

By all means remember his catch-phrase, but the man himself is best forgotten.

[rescuer]

Thanks Chakka35. That is very good and full answer. I was still at school when I heard The Brains Trust. I don't know if there was a photograph of him in a newspaper or Radio Times but I have a picture in my mind of a small man with a beard.
You refer to a Commander King-Hall. That name doesn't ring any bells but I do remember a Commander Campbell who was known for his repeated remark: "When I was in Patagonia............."
My thanks, once more.

[Mortartube]

Rescuer, your imagination seems to be correct regarding Professor Joads appearance.

http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/3382861.jpg?v=1 &c=ViewImages&k=2&d=2C59C5F2747E9F17FCCC733231 CDDEF4A55A1E4F32AD3138

and on the left of this picture.

http://www.harryprice.co.uk/images/price_image s/price_joad_bed.jpg

[rescuer]

Oh! I hadn't known that he was a homosexual. Or was it just a very cold winter?!
Mind you, at the young age I was when I heard him on the radio I would have know nothing of such things - thank goodness.

[Mortartube]

I am not sure that he was a homosexual. The other person in bed is Harry Price, famous paranormal investigator, especially associated with Borley Rectory.

Perhaps they were in bed together as one of them was "scared" by ghosts. Lol.

Happily it was all before my time but interesting nevertheless.

[rescuer]

-------And Professor Joad would have said; "It depends what you mean by homosexual and scared" !!