Onward, Christian soldiers

Quentin Letts writes in the Spectator about his distant relative Nicholas Monsarrat’s novel The Kappillan of Malta, whose central character is a priest, Father Salvatore:

One day he has lunch with the Governor of Malta, Lieut-General Sir William Dobbie. Monsarrat did not invent Dobbie. Dobbie was a keen member of the Plymouth Brethren. A veteran of the Boer War, he was once sent to quell some rioting in Palestine in the 1920s. ‘We will have to fight only four days a week,’ he said. ‘The Arabs won’t fight on Friday, the Jews on Saturday and I certainly won’t on Sunday.’

So here is Melina Mercouri singing “Never on Sunday” (“Ta Paidia Tou Piraia”) from the 1960 movie of that name: she won Best Actress at Cannes that year; the song won the Oscar. Ms Mercouri (b. October 1920, d. March 1994) was Greek’s Minister for Culture from 1981 to 1989.