I dislike peppermint flavouring to this day. And the name Verna — I dislike that. It doesn't sound like spring to me, or like green grass or garlands of flowers or girls in flimsy dresses. It sounds more like a trail of obstinate peppermint, […]

Most of the work was classed as spud-bashing; each volunteer squatted on an unturned bucket and with a sharp knife peeled potatoes from one pile and then threw them on another.

The Olivette incident has often been cited as emblematic of the distortions published by Hearst and the rest of the yellow press during the Cuban revolution, but it seems to have been founded in an honest mistake.

One could almost think that this was a case of arson—where some of the locals felt that shopkeepers were earning too much money and needed to be brought down to size!