A lawmaker introduces the pun “May the Fourth be with you” on the floor of U.K. Parliament

On May 4, 1994, in a groan-inducing moment on the floor of U.K. Parliament, a lawmaker uses a pun that will spawn its own holiday far, far away from the halls of government.

“May the 4th is an appropriate date for a defense debate. My researcher, who is a bit of a wit, said that it should be called ‘National Star Wars Day,’” said Harry Cohen, then a Member of Parliament from Leyton, an area of East London. “He was talking about the film Star Wars rather than President Reagan’s defense fantasy, and he added, ‘May the fourth be with you.’ That is a very bad joke; he deserves the sack for making it, but he is a good researcher.”

Citation

Article Title A lawmaker introduces the pun “May the Fourth be with you” on the floor of U.K. Parliament 

Author History.com Editors

Website Name HISTORY URL https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/may-the-fourth-be-with-you-pun-parliament-speech Date Accessed May 3, 2023

Publisher A&E Television Networks

Last Updated May 3, 2021

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1493 – Alexander VI divided non-Christian world between Spain and Portugal.

1626 – Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on Manhattan Island. Native Americans later sold the island (20,000 acres) for $24 in cloth and buttons.

1715 – A French manufacturer debuted the first folding umbrella.

1776 – Rhode Island declared its freedom from England two months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

1814 – Napoleon Bonaparte disembarked at Portoferraio on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean.

1863 – The Battle of Chancellorsville ended when the Union Army retreated.

1886 – A bomb exploded on the fourth day of a workers’ strike in Chicago, IL. Eight people died in the violence during violence that day.

1886 – Chichester Bell and Charles S. Tainter patented the gramophone. It was the first practical phonograph.

1904 – The U.S. formally took control of the property for construction of the Panama Canal.

1905 – Belmont Park opened in suburban Long Island. It opened as the largest race track in the world.

1916 – Germany agreed to limit its submarine warfare after a demand from U.S. President Wilson.

1942 – The Battle of the Coral Sea commenced as American and Japanese carriers launched their attacks at each other.

1942 – The United States began food rationing.

1954 – The first intercollegiate court tennis match was played in the U.S. It was between Yale and Princeton.

1961 – Thirteen civil rights activists, dubbed “Freedom Riders,” began a bus trip through the South.

1964 – “Another World” premiered on NBC-TV.

1970 – The Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on students during an anti-Vietnam war protest at Kent State University. Four students were killed and nine others were wounded.

1979 – Margaret Thatcher became Britain’s first woman prime minister.

1981 – The Federal Reserve Board raised its discount rate to 14%.

1987 – Live models were used for the first time in Playtex bra ads.

1987 – The First Bank of the United States was listed as a National Historic Landmark.

1994 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat signed a historic accord on Palestinian autonomy that granted self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

2000 – The citizens of London elected their mayor for the first time.

2003 – Idaho Gem was born. He was the first member of the horse family to be cloned.

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