[5] Evidence that the phrase was in use as early as 1936 is provided in a memoir written by Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, the British Ambassador to China in 1936 and 1937, and published in 1949.
He mentions that before he left England for China in 1936, a friend told him of a Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times.
"[6] Frederic René Coudert Jr. also recounted having first heard the phrase in 1936: Some years ago, in 1936, I had to write to a very dear and honoured friend of mine, who has since died, Sir Austen Chamberlain, brother of the present Prime Minister, and I concluded my letter with a rather banal remark "that we were living in an interesting age".
Evidently he read the whole letter, because by return mail he wrote to me and concluded as follows: "Many years ago I learned from one of our diplomats in China that one of the principal Chinese curses heaped upon an enemy is, 'May you live in an interesting age.'"
Specifically, O'Toole cites the following statement Joseph made during a speech in 1898: I think that you will all agree that we are living in most interesting times.