The Fourth of May – “May the force by with you” – is Star Wars Day.
Star Wars became the nickname for President Reagan’s Strategic Defence Initiative launched in 1984. His closest ally was the UK’s prime minister Margaret Thatcher, whose Conservative Party were victorious on Thursday and who was thus invited by the Queen to form a government on Friday 4 May 1979. The photo below is evidence that it was the English and not the Americans who got the pun rolling.
Whether the English can let sleeping puns lie, Hansard, the official record of the UK parliament, records the following from a member of the House of Commons during a debate on 4 May 1994:
Mr. Cohen : …
May the fourth is an appropriate date for a defence debate. My researcher, who is a bit of a wit, said that it should be called national star wars day. He was talking about the film “Star Wars” rather than President Reagan’s defence 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.
