ashe

Billy, it may be time to consider meetings, buddy.

You need to learn how to handle your liquor billy bob the drunk.

For Co my father

This represents the only extant recording of Kipling's voice, made in 1921. The poem of which he reads only a fragment, �France', is more of historical than literary interest. It was written in honour of the French President's visit to London in 1913 and as such exemplifies Kipling's role as public mouthpiece for the British government. Written in strict rhyme the poem extols the virtues of France and sees the long-standing and bloody rivalry between France and Britain in traditional heroic terms: "We were schooled for dear life's sake to know each other's blade". France was soon to have a very different resonance for Kipling as two years later his son was killed at the Battle of Loos. Kipling had used his influence to gain him his commission in the Irish Guards and suffered terrible guilt as a consequence, leading him to write a most un-Kipling-like sentiment: "If any question why we died/Tell them, because our fathers lied."