Richard D'Oyly Carte

Richard D'Oyly Carte was a London theatrical impresario during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Although an amateur composer in his own right, he is best known for producing the comic operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Sourced

• Queen Victoria - I thought gags were things that were put by authority into people's mouths.
  D'Oyly Carte - These gags, your Majesty, are things that people put into their own mouths without authority
  • Conversation with Queen Victoria after a Royal Command performance of The Gondoliers in March 1891, the 'gags' in question are ad libs added by the actors during the performance
  • Quoted in The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan, Ian Bradley, OUP, 1996. Originally found in the magazine The Era