Hello!
Churchill is a constant source of surprises to me.

He has found now time to tackle the fable of Gibraltar apes.

While post-D Day struggles rage in France and Italy, he tells the Colonial Secretary
that "The establishment of the apes on Gibraltar should be twenty-four and every effort should be made to reach this number as soon as possible and maintain it thereafter".



I don't see what's exactly this "twenty-four" —simply a number, just like that, as he seems to say? Is it "a twenty-four hours" effort? Is there any special symbolic meaning in "twenty-four", as in the "Four and twenty blackbirds in a pie" of the popular song? Are these "blackbirds" related to the "ravens" of the similar myth that should those birds in the Tower of London leave, so would the British?

My logical next question would be: do you recommend me a psy or a holyday in Bahamas? —because, yes, I read too much everywhere…

Take care,

CM

I take the 24 monkeys as just a number, a nice round two-dozen number plucked out of the air with no real significance, but still just the number of monkeys ... nothing to do with 24 hours a day etc.

The "four and twenty blackbirds in a pie" does mean blackbirds Turdus merula, or at least some other type of small bird, either edible or praised as a song-bird, or both. The song refers to a quite common medieval practice of making a spectacular dish by enclosing song-birds (and other creatures, even on one occasion some boy choristers) in a pastry pie, so that "when the pie was opened the birds began to sing" to the delight of the company. There may also have been a real pie with cooked blackbirds, served at the same time to enhance the joke. (You once scoffed but you see the history of cooking does have its uses   ).

I don't see it but with the number 24 I suppose Churchill may have been making a rather obtuse reference to the ravens of the Tower of London but ravens, although black are not generally called blackbirds, and there are, as far as I'm aware, no specified number of ravens to be present (currently I think there are just six), but it is true that there is a similar legend suggesting that while there are apes on the Rock of Gibraltar it will remain British.

EDIT
It seems that the Gibraltar/ape legend is quite old:

"The macaques’ presence on the Rock gained popularity during the Great Siege of Gibraltar between 1779-1783, during which Spain and France launched an ongoing assault upon British Gibraltar by sea and land. One surprise attack – so the legend goes – was thwarted by the monkeys who were disturbed in the night, and in turn alerted the night watch to the attack. This legend gave rise to the saying that as long as the monkeys remain on the Rock, so will the British. It is also known that General George Eliott, a governor of Gibraltar in the late 1800s, would not suffer apes to be molested or taken."

So maybe Churchill was making some obtuse reference linking the apes on Gibraltar to the ravens in the Tower, he would certainly have known his history and would probably have liked the similarity. But who can honestly say what was actually passing through Churchill's mind? But clearly he thought it important (for morale? for publicity? for luck?) to keep the number of macaques up.

That was his second intervention in the "Gibraltar monkey crisis" of World War Two. Earlier in the war he had been informed that the number of macaques had shrunk to seven, with only two females remaining. He authorised the addition of five breeding females (Daisy, Beatrice, Jane, Kathleen, and Madeline, imported from Morocco on an Avro Anson diverted from troop carrying duties) to redress the balance, and hoped this would soon lead to the colony doubling in size. I imagine that's why he had 24 in his head.

That makes sense, with maths in support: 7 macaques + 5 breeding females = 12 "apes"; with a 2 baby-monkeys litter each —> there you have the 24…

More seriously, I think you both are right, Meles meles and nordmann, the number 24 being just that —we should be asking Winston himself to know more about it, assuming there's actually more to be known —but we have no ouija at hand…

Thanks again for your answers.

I absolutely think this forum is one of the great oasis in the sometimes desertic Net, so it's continuity is a must.

All the best,

CM