Famous Last Words

All of these `famous last words` are accurately represented here on Vince's Worthwhile Website. They are all real statements made by real people, believe it or not.

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"Of all the wild, crackpot and idiotic schemes, this is the most foolish"

British Postmaster General Lord Lichfield, shown a new idea called a ' stamp ' by Rowland Hill circa 1839.

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"We don't like the sound, guitar groups are on the way out"

Decca PR man Mr. Dick Rowe on being offered a contract with the Beatles in 1962.

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"The Olympic games can have no more a deficit than a man giving birth to a child"

Mayor of Montreal Jean Drapeau, the hosted the 1976 Olympics, it cost the city One Billion Dollars

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"X-rays will be proven to be a hoax"

Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, 1893

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."

Another classic by Lord Kelvin, said in 1895.

"Radio, pah! it has no future"

^ Yes him again!! ^ said in 1904.

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"I think that there may be a world market for possibly five computers."

Thomas Watson, Chief IBM executive, 1958

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"So we decided to go to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing !, even built it with some of your parts, what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, " No.", So we then went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, "Hey, we don't need you. You haven't even got through college yet."

Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak's Personal Computer. He later founded Apple Computer Inc.

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"He will never amount to anything very much"

Munich High School report on Albert Einstein

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"Ha Ha, Those cigarettes will never become popular"

Cigar makers E.G. Alton turning down a contract with John Player, 1890

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"Ah that, yes, well, very interesting Whittle, but dear boy it will never work, forget it"

Aeronautical engineering professor lecturing to jet engine designer and inventor Sir Frank Whittle, 1930.

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"I've never felt better"

Douglas Fairbanks Snr, 1939, He died the very next second.

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"The Bullet hasn't been made that can kill me"

Jack `legs` Diamond, Gangster, shortly before being gunned down in 1931

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"I do not believe that there will be a woman Prime Minister in my time"

Education Minister Margaret Thatcher,1973. Who became Prime Minister in 1979

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"The notion that these iron coaches can replace cavalry is absurd"

One of Field Marshall Haig`s generals after inspecting tanks 1916

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"No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris."

Orville Wright, shortly after he and his brother Wilbur accomplished the first manpowered flight.

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"Submarines won't do anything but suffocate its crew and flounder at sea"

H.G.Wells on being asked for his honest views on submarines in 1901

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"Its a total mismatch, I'll beat up on him real bad"

Muhammed Ali talking about Larry Holmes,1979. Larry Holmes defeated him

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"Can't sing can't act can dance a little "

Report on Fred Astair`s first screen test, 1932

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"....that scoundrel Brahms, What a gift-less ba***rd ! It annoys me that this self-inflated mediocrity is hailed as a genius."

Tchaikovsky, speaking about Brahms 1886

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"Forget it will yer, no civil war picture ever made a dime, get out of here"

Irving Thalberg, film producer, turning down the contract for Gone with the wind, 1938

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"50,000 bucks for a damn book !! We'll never pay that kinda dough for a damn book "

The Warner Bros partnership, upon being offered the same book for production purposes at about the same time, c1938

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"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk ?"

Movie Mogul H. M. Warner, Warner Bros, 1927

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"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."

Gary Cooper, on his decision to turn down the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."

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"If any enemy bomber reaches the Ruhr, then you may call me Miere"

Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering to Hitler,1939

"They did,..................Miere "

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"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."

Western Union internal memo. 1876.

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"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular ?"

David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

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"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn a grade better than ' C - ', the idea must be feasible."

A Yale University Management Professor in response to Frederick Smith's proposal for a reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith Successfully went on to found the Federal Express Corp.)

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"Why would anyone would need anymore than 640k of memory ?"

Bill Gates, Head of Microsoft ( and the Computing world ! ). 1981

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"Drill for oil ?? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil ? Ha Ha You're crazy ! Ha Ha."

Industrial Drillers to Edwin. L. Drake whom he attempted to enlist on his new project to drill for oil. 1859

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"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is just ridiculous fiction"

Pierre Pachet, Top Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, France. 1872

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"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said ' you can't do this.' "

Spencer Silver discussing his work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.

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"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon".

Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.

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"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."

Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, shortly before The Wall Street Crash where all stock prices fell to there lowest ever. 1929.

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"I believe that it is peace in our time"

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain shortly before the outbreak of World war II

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"Everything that can be invented has been invented."

Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, making an adamant statement. 1899.

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"Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools."

New York Times editorial report about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work that later proved to be correct. 1921

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"The Titanic is unsinkable, why even God couldn't sink her "

Petty officer onboard the fated ship shortly before it hit an iceberg and sank. 1912

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Believe it or not, they actually said this!

Mariah Carey - on hearing of the death of the King of Jordan.
" I'm inconsolable - I was a good friend of Jordan, he was probably the greatest basketball player this country has ever seen. "

Britney Spears - ( speaking in the USA) " I get to go to lots and lots of overseas places, like Canada. "

Samantha Fox (UK blonde celeb) - " I have got 10 pairs of trainers - one for each day of the week. "

Mel B. " I want an internet, can I have one of these? "

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Elizabeth Hurley - (During film production) " I didn't even have one minute off to go file my nails, I turned into a zombie!"

Helena Christensen - " There is no point in trying to prove you have a brain. I'd sooner save the energy for something more meaningful. "

Alicia Silverstone - " When I get lonely, I want to be alone. I like to indulge in my loneliness so I can figure out that I am not really lonely. "

Keanu Reeves - " I cried over beauty, I cried over pain. The only other time I cried because I felt nothing. "

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Donna Air (British blonde) is attributed with the following gems:

To the Corrs - " How did you meet? " (They are all brothers and sisters)

When told she had phone call from someone urgent - " Der Hello is that Mr Urgent? "

" I'm off footballers, they are not the brightest of people! "

She asked a waiter " Where do Dublin oysters come from? "

On her demands for a memorial plaque to be put up in her native Newcastle - "After all, I am the biggest star to come from there" - ( I personally have never heard of her ) she obviously didn't know that Jack and Bobby Charlton came from there as does, Jimmy Nail, Sting and a whole host of others....
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"The Internet is boring, I don't think it will take off that much" yep, I Vince Lewis actually said this in 1996