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Memories are made of such things - if any of those patrons could later find anyone who believed them. Other than that, there are several prospective lessons to be drawn from the latest escapade of Jean Chrétien, full-time prime minister and sometime prankster.

Say this for Jean Chrétien: for a man considered cautious in character, he delivered one of the most important - and predictable - announcements of his life in utterly unpredictable fashion.

On a balmy late-December afternoon, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was in conversation with Maclean’s at his official residence when the telephone rang for the second time. Gesturing to an aide to silence the call, Chrétien said: "Push 'Do Not Disturb.' " The aide hit the button, exclaiming: "Ah, DND.

Sir John Alexander Macdonald, first prime minister of Canada (1867–73, 1878–91), lawyer, businessman, politician, (born 10 or 11 Jan 1815 in Glasgow, Scotland; died 6 June 1891 in Ottawa).

It did not take an Ottawa insider to know George Baker was on slippery ground with his own government.

When in 1887 a Canadian delegation went to Washington to negotiate a treaty with the United States, their hosts treated them to a boat ride on the Potomac. One Canadian delegate arrived early and while waiting for the others struck up a conversation with a lady, the wife of a US senator.

As we mark the 200th anniversary of Sir John A. Macdonald’s birth on 11 January 2015, it’s worth considering his achievements, experiences and his flaws.

Jean CHRÉTIEN has always looked back at his six years as minister of INDIAN affairs with an equal measure of fondness and something resembling regret. He has called his work from 1968 to 1974 among the most satisfying of his career.

Inside his third-floor Parliament Hill office last Thursday, Prime Minister Jean CHRÉTIEN spent part of the morning signing some of the 1,000 Christmas cards that will be sent out with his personal signature.

Alexander Mackenzie, 2nd prime minister of Canada 1873–78, stonemason, building contractor, author, insurance executive (born 28 January 1822 in Logierait, Scotland; died 17 April 1892 in Toronto, ON).

Up the Pan-American Highway from Santiago, on the route that leads north to mining country, a small Alberta company has set up shop to repair hydraulic motors and pumps.

Arthur Meighen, lawyer, politician, businessman, prime minister of Canada (b at Anderson, Ont 16 June 1874; d at Toronto 5 Aug 1960).

FROM THE MOMENT it was announced a year ago, the Gomery commission of inquiry into rampant abuse of sponsorship programs seemed custom-designed to reveal the worst aspects of Jean CHRÉTIEN's tenure as prime minister.

Few would disagree. At 2:10 a.m. on Nov. 5, Dallaire arrived at the fence surrounding 24 Sussex Drive - and spent 20 minutes throwing stones onto the grounds and waving at security cameras that, ostensibly, were being monitored by Jean Chrétien's RCMP security staff.

Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, prime minister 1963–68, statesman, politician, public servant, professor (born 23 April 1897 in Newtonbrook, ON; died 27 December 1972 in Ottawa, ON).

There had to be a better way for Paul Martin to quell the jitters in that band of Liberal supporters who can't wait for him to become top dog in the pound.

In the mid-1930s, at the height of the Great Depression, Prime Minister R.B. Bennett's political demise seemed inevitable. Seeking to reverse the tide running against his Conservative Party, in January 1935 he began a series of live radio speeches outlining a "New Deal" for Canada.

“Let me tell you, my fellow countrymen, that all the signs point this way, that the 20th century shall be the century of Canada and Canadian development.… For the next 100 years, Canada shall be the star towards which all men who love progress and freedom shall come.” — Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier speaking at Toronto’s Massey Hall on 14 October 1904.

Sir Robert Laird Borden, lawyer, politician, prime minister of Canada, 1911–20 (born 26 June 1854 in Grand Pré, NS; died 10 June 1937 in Ottawa, ON).

Martin Brian Mulroney, PC, CC, GOQ, lawyer, businessman, politician, prime minister of Canada 1984 to 1993 (born 20 March 1939 in Baie-Comeau, QC).