Random query

[sam_t]

The phrase "The Empire on which the sun never sets" is ringing vague Flanders and Swann bells for me at the moment, but I think that the phrase I'm remembering is "... on whom the sun never sets". If I'm correct, then the second phrase is obviously a pun on the first, but what is it referring to? Or have I just gone completely barmy?

Comments

[biascut.livejournal.com]

The British Empire was always described as the Empire on which the sun never sets, because at its height, it stretched right the way around the globe so it was always daylight somewhere in the British Empire. I don't know who coined the phrase, though.