Churchill's parrot won't squawk (Churchill's parrot during WWII found alive at 104)

Reuters ^ | 19 January 2004

[Kepitalizm]

LONDON (Reuters) - Winston Churchill's foul-mouthed 104-year old parrot has refused to surrender to after a newspaper tracked the bird down and discovered it was still alive.

"They've been trying to get him to talk all day, but he's not saying much," said Sylvia Martin, who manages Heathfield Nurseries where parrot Charlie has lived for the last 12 years.

Charlie, who kept Churchill company during World War Two, was famous for occasionally squawking four-letter obscenities about Hitler. But Martin told Reuters the bird has mellowed.

"He doesn't say very much anymore -- usually just hello and goodbye. But he does get so excited about music and dances to it. He's very fit."

Charlie -- invariably referred to as "he" despite being female -- is now owned by Peter Oram, the garden centre's owner, Martin said. Oram's father-in-law sold Churchill the bird and was asked to take it back after the prime minister died in 1965.

Steve Nichols, founder of Britain's National Parrot Sanctuary, said on Monday that although parrots did not often live longer than 40 in the wild, some had lived to up to 110.

"It's obviously had the best life possible," he said.

[FormerLib]

Ahem...make that "mere mortal!"

Ah well, the darned parrot wouldn't talk to me either, I'm sure.

[Ichneumon]

Ah well, the darned parrot wouldn't talk to me either, I'm sure.

Parrots are famous for the same syndrome seen in little kids when you try to et them to talk on the phone to Grandma.

When you *want* them to talk or show off, they have an uncanny ability to remain absolutely silent and adopt the utterly stupid expression of a hypnotized chicken.

Then the moment company leaves they go back to gabbing up a storm and plotting to take over the world.

(Actually, I suspect they've got an instinct to "lay low" when faced with someone/something unfamiliar, so as not to draw attention to themselves in the presence of possible danger. They really are very subdued around strangers.)

[The Red Zone]

he certainly isn't good eating anymore

Pressure cooker

[StoneColdGOP]

Now I've got the Dead Parrot from Monty Python in my head... Thanks! LOL.

[StoneColdGOP]

I've got a Texas Desert Totoise. They make the greatest pets. I've had mine since I was maybe 8, or 10? He was a young adult then, I think, maybe 15 to 20.

He'll far outlive me, I'm sure.

[SamAdams76]

Anyway, it's got lovely plumage!

[Leatherneck_MT]

Parrots can live to phenomenal ages. We had one that lived across the street from us in Durham NC that had been the pet of a Civil War Veteran. That was in 1969.

We used to get a kick out of it because at night the bird would mimic the sounds of camp. You could hear the horses, the men talking and every once in awhile the bird would yell out "C'mere you old son of a bitch." and then he'd go quiet.

It was a brief look into another world in another time and place and it was awesome for a 10 year old.

[afuturegovernor]

This is the coolest story I've read in a long time. That bird belonged to the man that saved Western Civilization as we know it.

[The Red Zone]

A bird that had seen the Civil War, remembering what it heard over 100 years ago? Wow.

[Rebelbase]

There's a giant tortoise that Charles Darwin collected on one of his trips to the Galapagos Islands still living in a zoo in Australia.

Its around 170 years-old now.

"Harriet" the tortoise.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Never run under a tree in the jungle where parrots
are roosting, they get rid of all excess weight
before flying off.

[The Iguana]

Remarkable story!

[The Red Zone]

She's kissing Darwin's turtle?

[jonno]

Writing is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.
-Winston Churchill

(see my bio)

[afuturegovernor]

A really awesome story

[RunningJoke]

The last time I saw this parrot it made more sense then most of our elected officials. It squawked, "We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."

[Stallone]

Ouch!

[Rebelbase]

Yep, thats Darwin's Tortoise. Collected in 1835 when it was the size of a frisbee.
More info here: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=darwin+tortoise+harriet

[djf]

Normally, I've been interested in animal intelligence, no matter how dim. But some of the stuff that's been happening with parrots make my skin crawl.
With brains smaller than walnuts... Supposedly, when a parrot got dropped at the vet, it exclaimed loudly "Come back.[to the owner] I'm sorry. I want to go home"

[afuturegovernor]

From a different source...

The owner of the parrot, Charlie Peter Oram is sure, the bird is 103 years old at least. The bird's background is connected with the name of Britain's legendary prime minister Winston Churchill, who had bought the parrot in approximately 1937.

The prime minister was famous for his wonderful sense of humor, and that is why he trained the bird in a special manner. He taught the parrot to use foul language, the bird was rather clever and started repeating words rather quickly. After Winston Churchill the parrot, Charlie, had several successive owners.

Charlie does not look any more so much grand, as in its young age. It is officially believed, Charlie was born in 1899, he had two owners before Winston Churchill. But it was the British Prime Minister who taught its to use bad language. What is especially interesting, the parrot even mimics Churchill's voice at that.