Goldfish Swallower Marks Anniversary of First Fish

Forty years ago tonight Lothrop Withington '42 had dinner at the Union and became a national celebrity. He ate a live goldfish.

"I've never lived it down. It follows me everywhere," Withington said yesterday. "The national papers carried it, and suddenly they were doing it at every college."

A ten-dollar bet with friends inspired the stunt, which made Withington famous. Calls came from Hollywood; Garry Moore and Ernie Kovacs invited him on their talk shows, and marriage proposals arrived through the mail.

Harvard administrators reacted with less enthusiasm, and Withington received a call from the dean's office. "There was nothing Harvard could do to me," he said. "It was perfectly harmless and wholesome--like stealing underwear from Radcliffe and tying it to a flagpole in Harvard Square," he added.

Describing his technique, Withington explained that he prefers not to swallow the fish live. "I figure if it can swim one way it can swim the other," he said.

He prefers immediate chewing, despite the bitter taste. "It's just a question of mind over matter, a conditioning thing. Like eating oysters."

Alms for the Poor

Withington commented on how student life at Harvard has changed, saying, "We were the last of the papered classes at Harvard. Tuition was $400, we still had biddies, and scholarship boys waited tables at the Union."

Withington last swallowed a fish at his 25th reunion in 1967, donating the $100 he received to the University.

After graduation he served in the Air Force and then went into business in Massachusetts. He has worked for a tool company, a reinforced paper firm, and a shoe manufacturer, and he ran a heating oil company before retiring to Florida last year with his wife.