Mr Gove said teachers were encouraged to teach the early Middle Ages "by studying the depiction of King John as a cowardly lion in Disney's Robin Hood".

BBC: Gove criticises 'Mr Men' history teaching

Reilly is not that huge, and Foster not that tiny, yet somehow each highlights the other, to an absurd degree, as if the Cowardly Lion had hooked up with a Munchkin.

NEWYORKER: Theatre on Film

The Scarecrow wants to understand the world around him, the Cowardly Lion wants the courage to live his life, and the Tin Man wants to fill the empty can that serves as his chest.

WSJ: Nowhere Near the Rainbow

But where was the cowardly lion?

ECONOMIST: Letters | The

He was entranced by Dorothy and her ruby slippers, the yellow brick road, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and even the Munchkins, but there was one prop from the 1939 movie that held him under the deepest spell: the broomstick of the Wicked Witch.

FORBES: Swept Up