Along with similar phrases (e.g. "the needfulness is terrific") it is used by the character of Hurree Jamset Ram Singh in the Billy Bunter stories.
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In later years it was most commonly used as a parody example of contemporary South Asian English.
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The Oxford English Dictionary lists examples of usage from 1709 (Richard Steele in the Tatler), 1771 (Samuel Foote in Maid of Bath), 1821 (Maria Edgeworth in a letter), 1831 (Walter Scott in his journal), 1929 (I. Colvin in his Life of Dyer), and 1992 (Jeff Torrington in Swing Hammer Swing!), the last likely used humorously.