If you were listening to Radio 4's PM tonight, you'll probably have heard the following from its ultra-woke presenter Evan Davis:
5:39pm: So far so good on the prospects for the Oxford vaccine for the Covid...for coronavirus - one of the great white hopes for getting out of the crisis caused by the disease, but there is no timeline on its delivery.
5:47pm: Charlie Whelan, who used to work for Gordon Brown, has tweeted I used the phrase "great white hope". Amazing, isn't it, how one slips into archaic language, however aware we might try to be. Good of him to point that out. Now let's move on...
Oh Evan!
The phrase itself was coined to describe certain white boxers who challenged a run of hard-to-beat black champions, such as the unfortunately-named Gerry Cooney.
As a bonus fact, Mr Cooney was given that epithet by Don King.
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