"A Funny Thing."

An escalating bragging match between Uncle Silas and Uncle Cosmos. Cosmos is modeled on Bates's paternal grandfather Charles Lawrence, who was "known about Rushden as a dapper and dashing figure who spent his holidays in the south of France, where he reputedly had a number of mistresses" (Baldwin, 1987, p. 18).

A television adaptation starring Albert Finney was aired in 2003.

Published in:

• The Daily Express (February 28, 1938)
• The Best Short Stories of 1938 (London: Cape, 1938)
• The Best British Short Stories, 1938 (1938)
• The Flying Goat (1939)
• My Uncle Silas (1939)
• Argosy (February, 1942)
• The Complete My Uncle Silas Stories (Bloomsbury ebook, 2016)