Question #127517. Asked by silentvoices.
Last updated Oct 30 2012.
Originally posted Oct 30 2012 8:28 AM.
Philip_Eno
Answer has 1 vote
Philip_Eno 17 year member
146 replies
Answer has 1 vote.
It is commonly thought that this expression refers to James Gordon Bennett. JGB was a real person - in fact, with the expansiveness that is appropriate for this story, two real people. The elder James Gordon Bennett was born in Banffshire, Scotland in 1795 and emigrated to the USA, eventually becoming a journalist and founding the New York Herald in 1835.