20 Figurative References to the Titanic Tragedy in Past News Reports
- Kejsi Kajo
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Historical Insight: Leading publications of 1912, eager to report a breaking story, initially claimed that all passengers aboard the "unsinkable" Titanic had survived the collision with a drifting iceberg.
"When the Titanic hit an iceberg it was at least going somewhere"
"Doctors agree to ration health care", Jeremy Laurance, The Times, July 7th, 1992
"it was the amateurs who built Noah's Ark. The professionals were the ones who built the Titanic"
"Shipshape", Financial Times, October 18th, 1983
"our job chase will look like fighting over the deck chairs on the Titanic"
"No more jobs please", Richard Donkin, Financial Times, December 23rd, 1994
"Nobody should be afraid to alter course ... I bet the captain of the Titanic would have changed his route if he knew he was steaming towards an iceberg"
"Switch to summer brings mixed results at turnstiles", Christopher Irvine, The Times, July 6th, 1996
"We are drifting as over-confidently as the Titanic onto a transatlantic iceberg"
"Robbed in dreamworld", Peter Millar, The Times, April 14th, 1992
"An offer of free tickets to catch the show again was waved off as 'offering someone another ticket on the Titanic'"
"Lloyd Webber faces $12m Cats claim", Quentin Letts, The Times, February 3rd, 1997
"It will take some time, it always does, to change the economy. It's like turning the Titanic [a]round"
"A tougher man at Number 11", Peter Norman, Financial Times, October 28th, 1990
"If the Defense Secretary had been captain of the Titanic, he would not even have known the ship was sinking"
"Tories promise more pay to troops", John Hunt, Financial Times, March 27th, 1979
"'What's the difference between Bill Clinton and the Titanic?' [The] answer involves a reference to the number of women who went down with the latter"
"Tom Clancy v the Royal Navy", Jason Cowley, The Times, February 27th, 1998
"In the hotels, enough haddock and chips is being fried to sink the Titanic"
"Islanders turn tanker disaster into profit", Walter Ellis, The Times, January 9th. 1993
"Cynics might say it is a little like being appointed captain of the Titanic just before the crash"
"McKeag earns massive vote of confidence", Peter Ball, The Times, January 16th, 1992
"the Titanic would not have gone down if it had been painted sky blue"
"Coventry escape route leads to new horizons", Jason Nisse, The Times, May 19th, 1997
"Another speaker drew an analogy with the Titanic when the first-class passengers grabbed places on lifeboats, leaving third-class passengers to drown"
"Chairman of Lloyd's steps down", Jonathan Prynn, The Times, July 28th, 1992
"when the Titanic went down nobody remembered the crew, only the captain"
"State Aid Agency City's Only Option Panel Insists", Fred Ferretti, The New York Times, June 5th, 1975
"it would be like swimming towards the Titanic"
"Ireland forced into sharp base rate rise", Time Coone, Financial Times, September 29th, 1992
"if he makes the race - expect the Titanic to be raised the following day"
"Laboured Wharf harbours few classic aspirations", Richard Evans, The Times, July 9th, 1992
"Somebody just suggested to me that I must have felt like the last man left on the Titanic as it went down"
"Ripley wings in from exile with faith in Hoddle's new regime", Oliver Holt, The Times, September 4th, 1997
"We nearly called it The Titanic because it goes down so well"
"Sandwiches filled with imagination", Ian Hamilton Fazey, Financial Times, April 14th, 1990
"rather like the Titanic running into a torpedo on its way down"
"Foster can add to despair in the Midlands by proving Turner wrong", Clive White, The Times, January 18th, 1986
"Investors in UK oil exploration stocks are beginning to look like passengers on the Titanic"
"Oil exploration", Edited by Carl Mortished, The Times, April 16th, 1997
