William Archibald Spooner

William Archibald Spooner (July 22, 1844–August 29, 1930) was educated at Oswestry School and New College, Oxford and became an Anglican priest and a scholar. He was ordained deacon in 1872 and priest in 1875.

Quotations

• In the opinion of Roy Harrod, William Spooner overtopped all the heads of Oxford and Cambridge colleges he had known "having regard to his scholarship, devotion to duty, and wisdom".
• "Come into the arms of the shoving leopard" instead of the "come into the arms of the loving shepherd" that he meant to say in one of his homilies.
• After the concept of spoonerisms became known, Spooner once denounced a crowd that had gathered to hear him speak by saying, "You haven't come for my lecture, you just want to hear one of those... things."