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Welcome to the Erasmate Taxes Show. It's the show everyone's talking about but there really should be listening to it

This is the Erasmate Taxes Show. Your host Erasmate Taxes.

My goodness. Folks, you know this is the show about everything. You do not know

What we will speak about on any given day. Today is your lucky day if you enjoy humor. Do you find humor funny?

Many people do and if you're one of those people today we are talking about humor but more specifically we're talking with the author of a new book titled

Lincoln's Sense of humor. I'm not talking about Lincoln Nebraska. I'm talking about President Abraham Lincoln. He was very famous for his humor but to have a book in my hands to have a book about his humor really excites me.

The author is Richard Carwardine. He's a professor emeritus at Oxford University where he served as Rhodes professor of American history

and then as president of Corpus Christi College until very recently his biography Lincoln won the Lincoln Prize in 2004. How terrific to have him on the line with us from Mary old England Richard. Welcome to the program.

Well, thank you very much. And please tell me and I ought to have asked you earlier how precisely should one pronounce your surname?

Well, let me say you've got it pretty close that I pronounce it. But my father pronounced you. So anyway, you've got it. You got my father's.

The multitudinous C's car were dying. I think that's Shakespeare. Yes, so you really. I'm just fascinated because you of course as I mentioned taught at Oxford University in England, you're yourself English.

You were president of Corpus Christi College there. So it's surprising to Americans sometimes to think of Abraham Lincoln in any context other than a purely American one. We we almost cannot imagine that those outside of the US would be aware of Lincoln much less dedicate their lives to him or dedicate books to him.

What was it that initially appeal to you about Lincoln such that you would right now to books dedicated to him?

Well, I'm afraid it's very very banal and rather not very exciting. I took a course on American history as an undergraduate at Oxford. And the course had been set up by a visiting American professor Alan Meven, the great Civil War historian.

And at the center of this special subject, third year final senior level, special subject was Abraham Lincoln, becoming the American Civil War.

At that point, after that point, I knew no American history. And having taken that course, I knew that if I had my if every wish came true, I would end up being an American historian studying Lincoln. And that's exactly what happened.

Actually, that's that is extraordinary. Now, this is quite a while ago. You said you were an undergraduate.

It is. I took that course in 1968 and 67 to 68 in my final year. So yeah, that's 50 years ago.

It is suddenly 50 years isn't what it used to be. That's amazing. I'm sorry, I missed that.

And now I said 50 years isn't what it used to be. You know, when somebody says to me that 1968 is 50 years ago, it doesn't really seem. It seems like about 32 years ago.

Yeah. Okay. Well, so that's but that is terrific. Yeah.

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