The wit and wisdom of George Smith — The Mary Hinge letter
Who doesn’t like a practical joke? This is one of the very best to have struck a famous fundraiser, delivered by the deft hand and sneaky humour of George Smith.
- Written by
- George Smith
- Added
- January 16, 2020
Editor’s note:
George loved practical jokes, particularly if they punctured pomposity, deflated egos or challenged cultural stereotypes. Mostly, when the opportunity presented itself to play a joke on someone close, George seemed barely able to resist the challenge and he would often spend hours crafting some absurd and convoluted trick just to watch its effect upon the unsuspecting target. Mostly, the victims of his machinations quickly realised that to be subject to such transient indignity was actually a sign of George’s affection. He didn’t play tricks on people he didn’t like.
The Mary Hinge letter with its accompanying CV was a classic George prank perpetrated on his great friend Per Stenbeck. Per had recently moved from his native Sweden to take up the serious role of CEO at International Fundraising Workshops Ltd (IFW), a forerunner of the Resource Alliance and organiser of the incomparable International Fundraising Congress (IFC). At the time of this prank the IFW office was located within George’s agency, Smith Bundy and Partners of Kennington, south London.
Per had advertised in The Guardian for a conference organiser, a challenging role to fill with an inevitable scarcity of suitable candidates, as the skills and experience as he was seeking were rare at the time. We don’t have the original advertisement but it was probably innocuous enough. Among a small number of genuine replies it elicited the response below from one riskily-named Ms Mary Hinge. Ken Burnett remembers Per’s temporary enthusiasm when he received it, as he ran round the office proclaiming that the perfect applicant had fallen into his lap.
The qualities, qualifications and experience outlined in this particular candidate’s CV might have given a clue that this application was not entirely serious, but the realisation took some time. See if you might have spotted the incongruities. Coming fresh from Sweden as he was at the time, Per can certainly be forgiven for his initial enthusiasm. It did take some time to explain…
Enjoy!
