David Cameron appeared on The Late show with David Letterman last night and was put to the test by Letterman by his line of tricky questions about British history. Who wrote “Rule Britannia”? What does “Magna Carta” mean? Mr Cameron didn’t know either and looked a bit uncomfortable and flustered. This is exactly what Dave loves to do to his guests, whip smart and clearly enjoying putting this Brit on the spot, it felt like the awkward line of questioning would never end.
“It would be good if you knew,” Mr Letterman told the sheepish PM, who took a minute or two to catch on and grasp that he’d been caught out by his host’s “dumb American” pose.
He got some right, the population of the UK, the difference between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the Government’s policy on euro membership, that sort of thing.
He tried to get a few mentions of the Olympics in, but this clearly didn’t really go as planned
He did however laugh at his failure to answer this test, “I’ve ended my career on your show tonight,” he said with what looked like a genuine laugh.
A bit of a risky booking to go on Letterman, he would have had more sucking up from Leno and Jimmy Fallon would have been kinder and probably asked him to play charades. But let’s hope the US go back to watching Downton Abbey and think Hugh Bonneville is most likely our Prime Minister.
Rule Brittania was written by James Thomson and Magna Carta means Great Charter; just in case you run into David Letterman in the lift.