Beachcomber Returns

Ever since I first saw the internet, I knew it could facilitate a return to the brief, inspired eccentricity that flourished in British newspapers in the early 20th Century, as the titles would find a small space for a number of lone voices, the best of which was JB Morton, aka Beachcomber, who wrote for the Express for about two centuries until the 1950s.

Those that don't know of his work, his flights of fancy were the obvious inspiration for The Goons, The Beatles, The Bonzos, Monty Python, and everyone in between. He was very much the architect of the comic template for all those mad colonels, posh twits and social faux pas that became the staple of British comedy in the post war years, and in particular the concept of the "vexed of Tonbridge Wells" letters.

Imagine my joy therefore to discover this link from the Surrey Comet with thanks to Monk who unearthed it for our delight.

Read the correspondence, there's barely a duff note, and I suspect that it's the work of one hand, and that of a modern Morton.

Meanwhile on the topic of pigeon extermination, I draw you attention to my own previous pigeon post.