Question: is dark and stormy night?
Answer: Of course, it wasn't a cliché when he was using it. It's the opening line to Bulwer-Lytton's 1830 novel, "Paul Clifford," about a highway robber during the French Revolution. ... To be fair to Bulwer-Lytton, "it was a dark and stormy night" is only the beginning of the opening phrase.