Wicked distaff wittery dispensed

You will recall book/daddy's dismissal of the Guardian's survey of Britwits (see "Lackwit" below, if your memory is so Newt Gingrich-like -- that is, short and faulty). The Independent did book/daddy one better, coming up with its own list of female Britwits because none had appeared in the Guardian's top 10. A much funnier list, on the whole, too.

book/daddy was familiar with Jane Austen, Mary Wortley Montagu, Virginia Woolf and Lady Astor. All of those conservatives who go into orgasms of admiration over Sir Winston never manage to mention that in insult exchanges, he was regularly topped by Lady Astor (an American, no less). When drily asked by him about what disguise he should wear to her costume ball, she replied, "Why don't you come sober, Mr. Prime Minister?"

But I confess I've not heard of quite a few of the others. New personal faves include Linda Smith ("She said of her home town, Erith: 'It's not twinned with anywhere but it does have a suicide pact with Dagenham') and Joyce Grenfell (On history: "Progress today does seem to come so very heavily disguised as Chaos").