The Captain(adorned by his greenish tweed 'literary' hat)
Yes you did read it right-there is a 'y' on the end of it,so it's not SEMINAR.What it refers to are recent moves by a prizewinning group of IRISH WRITERS who have got together,following on from recent speeches made by some of their number,to fund with the proceeds of some of their prizes,a fabulous new MODERN-TYPE seminary in which the words 'blessed' and 'grateful' and 'glorious' will be de rigueur.As will the wearing of collarless shirts and soft dark suits in serge while they whisper about the place thinking deep thoughts,just like Father Deacon and Bishop Snodgrass before them.What a tunrup up for the books-no more the Guinness-splashed auld baggy frieze-we have come of age.Look at our long Palmolive-scrubbed fingers,honed by long hours at the PC as we forge our great careers.What geniuses we are to keep Waterstones so happy.But hang on-I've to go off and write some more about 'this blesssed little republic'-and pick up my soft no-collar suit from the cleaners.More from the whipsering Lyceum as it develops.
Let this be known and disseminated widely:Captain Butty,Kevin 'Mr Saucy' Allen and Flatlake are SWORN ENEMIES of JIGGERTY HOPPERTY new iRISH paddies who nearly choke when they say 'feck' and insist on spelling crack 'craic'-it was you bastards who started all this ersatz stage Irishry-and we're coming for youse.Yes,I did say 'youse.'If I were you,I'd remove my branded t-shirt,start walking fast and lock yourself in a darkened room with endless streams of DRAGONS' DEN playing,as you look back fondly on your teenage years,in that golden time of BOYZONE and WESTLIFE,in the days when IRELAND INC. was born,and the noble word 'fuck' was removed from the vocabulary,all thanks to you lot you crackless bunch of sheen-faced shitehawks.Who wouldn't know a good time not to save youser fucking lives,never mind play a tune on the guitar-unless,of course,maybe a cover of MOONSHADOW, or some other God's cursed pseudo-hymn for the conservative horror age you sentimental anti-intellectual semi-literate bastards spawned.Yeah that's right go on off and ring some cursagod consumer complaints radio programme and while you're at it why not drop in on some big tough guy celebrity chef who thinks its great to fire plates round akitchen and say 'fuck' all wrong.O boy Mother Ireland you sure are fuckingwell rearing them yet.Bring back TOMMY O BRIEN I say-him and MONICA CARR.Who's she?I'm not telling you.Anyway you'd only probably have forgotten the minute I did.Look!It's a new film-with banjos and curly bastards with Boston accents jumping and gwan round de place drinkin' porter an d sayin' dat we're the best at ivvertin' except we're bankrupt and haven't got the style of an apprenctice Andorra.Well done,young peepil!And their 'Boho' businessmen advisors,the transgressive,fearless motherfucking accountants-who didn't even manage to do that right!O Lord above me heart is bruk says Butts!
Just arrived in(on the Ballybay bus)-Criggs Norton of Cornabona(35),to buy some shopping.
END OF NEWSFLASH,
Electric haired Notting Hillybilly Oliver Claridge will be hosting " FLAT LAKE'S GOT TALENT" all weekend down at he campfire stage.
In a short press statement just released,the Hollywood star of 'Bonnie and Clyde',Hannibal Brooks' and other world-famous movies,asks:'Why on earth would I want to play KEVIN ALLEN?Sure,in recent times-ever since Bonnie and Clyde in fact,parts for me have not come along as frequently as in the past.But a so-called 'festival' organiser and FARMER?Well,look I'm afraid-in the modern parlance,I don't THINK SO!Especially since I will be premiering my latest 20 minute short 'The Petrol Pump' at the Bumpy Lake Festival,Clonboy,Corngeeha.Which I am really looking forward to,by the way!There'll be no mouth-watering BURGERS there,or GROUND-BREAKING WORLD PREMIERES IN THEATRE!Ha ha,play a man who makes sausages for a living.You really have the most wonderful sense of humour,Flatlakers!
Ah but sure they were great-hanging round there pouting like an auld jug outside Creation records maybe going into Sinnotts blaahing about JOE STRUMMER in your auld PIPESTEM TARTAN TROUSERS,running off a few hundred copies of your FANZINE Zig,is that what it was called,no- SICK,and then off to get smashed and flail about like a LOONEY,spitting at people and RUNNING DOWN THE GOVERNMENT and the whole bit and what you were going to do such curses!But now you're a teacher and all baldy and your children love SIMON COWELL and never miss XPOSE so you look like a right lug sitting there reading your HOT ;PRESS from 1978,the one with 'St' Geldof on the cover,in his cutaway stripey vest and everybody round him with big cuts on their arms and hair sticking up like mashed-up STRAWS.And to think that these curs used to LAUGH at RICK WAKEMAN.Who will be coming to THE FLATLAKE FESTIVAL next year,performing his STRAVINSKY SUITE WITH FRIESIANS UNDERWATER PART THE THIRD,song cycle ONE AND A HALF OVER 7('My Lady Guinevere')-so that should be good.('CAN' will be doing support if we can get them-and,failing that,HAWKWIND premiering THEIR space opera ANDROMEDA PARTICLE DIMENSION SOLARIS LOVE WITH HORSES.('For Jeffrey')
It's reputed to be their best yet-even better than THISTLES FOR CHRISTMAS!
Reports are filtering in that,in a dire and frankly pathetic attempt at upstaging the Flatlake,the rival 'Bumpy' Lake festival,Corraboney,has been caught in the act of actually DIGGING up AL JOLSON!I know-it's vile.Beneath contempt-we all feel that.Had even a press statement drafted for The Mountnugent Herald by all accounts,which has been found,Samizdat-style,in a HP sauce bottle behind Mort Hooley's Bush.It reads:'Ha ha Flatlake-where's your famous Lily Allen now!She's stupid-even her SKIRT is all chopped up like some auld hedge you'd see that's been looked after by some maniac not long out of the hostible!(Psycleatric,that is.)Boy when our man AL JOLSON gets up on that stage-zombie/skeleton or no,is that ALLEN fellow going to have MIXED FRUIT jam all over his face!'
Nosey Curdle and wife to separate
After over 2 years together,childrens's writer and TV personality Nosey Curdle and his wife Gimlet are to separate.Asking the press to respect their privacy,Gimlet Curdle (now O Nudlasaithe)explained how she and Curdle had grown apart in recent years,citing his 'card-playing' associates as 'undoubtedly a factor' in this sad development.Pressed for a comment,Nosey acknowledged that 'womens' lib' and the 'changing times' may have influenced their decision.Mr Curdle is currently on a promotion tour with his childrens' book The Fantastic Ears Of Skippers Hennessy The Centipede From Coote and Ms O Nudlasaithe is due to begin recording a new series of 'Ireland's 35 Best Balloon Folders In Irish' over the coming weeks.
Copyright Reuters,Drum.
What a laugh we all had when it turned out,later on,that the so-called 'film star' was none other than the bold Hughie Stocius himself-oh now!
A MEGA and very TRICKY quiz...compiled by 'The Captain.'
1.What Christian name did Diana Ross give her daughter?
2.Who is the hairiest bollocks ever to stand in front of a microphone?
How the story begins:-
All the time she went about her duties in the great London hospital of St Park's,and studied hard for the final exam that would make her a fully qualified nurse,Bridget Moran was haunted by the unbelievable thing that had happened to her.How could the deadly Black Mamba snake,of all things,gotten into her bed in The Nurses' Home?
Now read on......
Did you know a tree can kill itself?If its roots become tangled around the stem of another tree beneath the surface of the ground the supply sap,which is the tree's food,is cut off and dies.Another potential danger for trees is a certain H.Stocius,propietor of a local hostelry,who has been known to relieve himself of what he,rather uncouthly,has been known to describe as 'a great big hooring pish!' up against it,while pondering the cosmological immensities.Another hazard is provided by ten-ton trucks which sometimes come by,but have been know to misjudge what is known as 'The Turn Of Death' and plough right into the 'odd auld sapling'-making shite of it,in fact.
The RADIO BUTTY film festival will be held on Sat and Sun afternoon-showing all day 'PADDY',starring Des Cave,'The Girl With The Green Eyes' and 'QUACKSER FORTUNE HAS A COUSIN IN THE BRONX' starring GENE WILDER.Make sure and book your seat-OUTSIDE THE CAPTAIN BUTTY CARAVAN in THE BUTTY BARN.
Also announcing RADIO BUTTY TRIBUTE TO DENNIS HOPPER,R.I.P-to be introduced by legendary FILM-MAKER PAUL DUANE,who was in America one time.This event will be ON Friday night,late.RADIO BUTTY DENNIS HOPPER TRIBUTE.
99.5 fm-RADIO BUTTY
Yes,it's official.According to reports in today's 'News Assorted'a crack team of prizewinning Irish fiction writers has been formed with a view to getting Ireland out of its 'current financial crisis',according to a statement by Fidlik Cregan,author of many prizewinning novels about funny people and their ways,in which he goes on to say that hand-holding sessions and 'readings' are to be organised all over the country in which authors and book-lovers alike will be able to chant the names 'Oscar' and 'WB',while snorting derisively any time 'Chaucer' or 'Ted Hughes' is mentioned.The principal thinking behind the new movement is to remind the Irish people that while we might not have an arse in our trousers and about as much moral backbone as a tractor-flattened iguana,we still remain the dreamiest,most lovable literary people in the world,and can write books such as 'The Brophy Girl' and 'Get Me Out Of Broom cupboard,Patsy',the world-famous novel by Aine Ni Cathaisthe Glugg,which it is rumoured,on account of its sheer elan and brio and excellence,drove Ithe Russian saac Babel into a rage of feverish jealousy and thence to an early grave.So well done Irish writers,not only are you THE BEST IN THE WORLD at WRITING,but are now,apparently,the SAVIOURS of our little benighted isle.I'm so proud to be Irish so I am and so is Councillor Buttcake who stuck his face in at a poetry launch last night for 30 seconds before tearing off in his silver Mondeo to have a big feed of porter before the match.Keep the heart-liftting reports coming,IRISH Writers!
I see from this week's NORTHERN STANDARD that you hope to bring a certain GORE VIDAL to the Monaghan area,to 'read'.O you do do you?Well how about this-GORE your buttcakes with a finely sharpened set of my buck goats' horns!Put that in your drum and bang it,Literary & Arts Festival-yes Literary & Arts Festival where people steal your CANS that I had hidden under a bush only to come back after I'd been to the toilet to find them lying there-GONE!
Let me tell you this,so-called 'Captain' Butty or whatever you call yourself,if you or Vidal or that Allen fellow with the swanky niece is seen coming about here spouting 'poetry',youse'll be going home in what might be described as wobbling 'cybernaut' fashion-that is to say,HALF-MAN,half CREAMERY CAN.
Good day
Yours truly
'Aggrieved' Buds Mc Quidlet,
Cornamooney P.0.
Punctilious
My young son had been collecting frog spawn and put it in an old gold-fish bowl.Two days later he came rushing to me shouting:"Mummy my frog spawn aren't full stops any more,they're commas!"
Sure enough,each little dot had grown a tail!
Fuck me!
Mrs P.B,Fleetwood.
Just a short note to say how much I am enjoying reading your website/blog.It really is fun.But not only that-I was wondering could you possibly help me?You see,my boomerang won't come back.Thanking you in anticIpation:
Charles Drake,comedian(Decd.)

Tough guy detective Tony Manchito is committed to wreaking personal revenge on the criminals who have not only stolen his pet iguana but slaughtered his whole family in Drumhowan.Helped by Nicky Flute,his colleague in the NYPD,Broad Road Precinct,Tony tracks down the killers to their base near Bragan Mountain where he finds them teasing his iguana with sticks.Like The Taking Of Pelham 456,the movie urges you to root for the vendetta of an 'eye for an eye' and for no reason that you can fathom,run out to the nearest record shop and purchase Engelbert Humperdinck's BACK CATALOGUE in its entirety.
(To be reviewed next issue:THE DEVIL'S PISH,starring Doris Nudie-Pipp)
In the cinema marquee at 7pm - fri night ...
'DRUMMERS ARSE' - an enlightening fly on the wall documentary about the life of a freshly pressed white towel and what it goes through over forty minutes on the Scanbitz stage.
Camera - Ginger Baker
Sound -- Keith Moon
Design - Buddy Rich
Devised, written and presented by pat ( not Eugene ) McCabe ..sposored by Bud Light.
starring Robert Heifer and Ed Baker Jnr.
with
Shelley Tressil,Bert Ingre.
Friggs,a cold-blooded corrupt ex-policeman,masterminds a bank robbery with the reluctant assistance of Helmut Borg,a bitter ex-convict and Ingram,a Harlem musician heavily in debt to his bookie.But the enterprise is heavily jeopardised by Borgs' violent racial prejudice and a freakish twist of fate.Night Train To Scotshouse is shown in six dimensions and,availing of the accompanying X-Dr 21% headset,you can climb into the television and pretend you're on the train in America.It's great!
Ingram......Oweny King
Borg..........Kresler Allington
Lorry......Shelly Fleich
Bacco.......Will Henry
Ruth........Syracuse Ruddle
Tressil.......Herself
Screenplay by Joyce Kennedy Joyce,from the novel by Buttley Kingston(Black and White)
Have you ever thought that a bucket might have feelings?They have,you know.
A magazine edition of observations on inanimate objects from around the world.
Presented by Dr Eamon Wisenthal
Fonsey's new conservatory is large and luxurious.His neighbours can't help admiring it,and have even been known on occasion to compliment it.But one night,his braggadocio becomes that little too much to bear-and the sound of crashing glass wakens up the tranquil village of Bootle-On-Snudge,as a figure which appears suspiciously similar to their fellow citizen,is to be observed-punctured with dispartate shards of glass,after the manner of a disproportionately large voodoo doll-sailing in shadow past the spire of the local church.
Music composed by C.Note
Directed by Henry News
Producer Not Kevin Allen,Keith.
Flatlake Radio FFL,first broadcast Buttyvan Drum,last Monday.
(Repeated next Flubb)
Funley,
A compilation which I always use at gigs and which I bought in Lisnaskea in 1975.I liked a lot of the tracks and happened to be in the record shop when a couple of copies came in,so I snapped it up.The title track Pops For Protestants was so against the grain at the time that it didn't sell a thing.But 12 years later,the rare groove explosion happened and the track became an unlikely anthem for popsters on the street.DJs were rantically trying to get it and copies were changing hands for substantial sums.
By keeping hold of 99% of the records I've bought since 1997 and hitting people over the head with crates if they don't give me theirs.
I used to go to record fairs anf occasionally I might finds a gem like The Lee Harvey Oswald Memorial Pipe Band Plays All Your Favourite Flatlake Airs but those occasions were not all that common.Now I'm a one man vintage trader who devotes all his time to rooting about in boxes and climbing in windows.
There are certain records that are rumoured to exist but are hard to pin down.'Protestant's is one of these.No one had seen or heard it but,like 'James Brown Plays Drum' I found it in a shop in Notting Hill years ago.The same is true of 'John F Kennedy Sings Calypso' for example,or 'The Hitler Family in The Black Forest',which is a great collection of German folk.
After 'Pops',in a way I did.But it was A Festschrift For Hughie Stocius' that 'nailed' it,I suppose you could say,for me.
I don't know.
Butty ...If you gimme four weekend camping tickets I'll tell you who put up the hIllybilly photies and the bit about the easydrinkers ..... yours, Micky Quigly ....anonymouse.
PROTESTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
I am delighted to in a position to announce that the rare LP 'Pops For Protestants'(1971,price 17/11)for which we sent out a distress call,has now been located in a WAR ON WANT shop in CAVAN,featuring all the hits.So thanks to all you good people who scoured the county.Give yourselvesa BIG clap on the BACK.For my part,I'm off to my special custom-made 'pop' room,to do the 'woolly bully' and the 'Locomotion' with all the good old stars of yesteryear,the Alexander Brothers,Kevin Mc Kellar,Fr Sydney Mc Ewan(even tho' he's not protestant) and the Cullybackey Brass Reed Flagolet Watering Can and Biscuit Brass Band.O and by the way,to anyone who happens to be reading this,I did not-repeat DId not-WRITE the bit of scurrilous prose with tyhe picture of the two GEEKS on it that immediately follows this post,but I DO happen to know who it WAS and if they think they're going to provoke me into RETALIATION they have another think coming.I shall stroll by with my nose retrousse,ululating wearily,with all the phlegm I can muster-as though some Philip Larkin at a Kingsley Amis Conference-'The Little dog yaps but the stallion GOES SAILING BY.'Ha ha-touche!
COMING SOON in the Flat Lake Cinema Marquee ....
EASY DRINKER by Pat ( not Eugene ) McCabe
Two young ‘Hillybilly’ biker brothers , POTS AND NIBBIE Malloy sell some dope in Cootehill, stash their cash away in their gas-tank and set off for a trip across the north country on their way to a head-banger bash in Ballyshannon, on their own personal odyssey looking for a way to lead their lives. On the journey they encounter bigotry and hatred from small-town communities who despise and fear their non-conformism. However POTS AND NIBBIE also discover people attempting 'alternative lifestyles' who are resisting this narrow-mindedness, there is always a question mark over the future survival of these drop-out groups. The gentle hillybilly community who thank God for 'a place to stand' are living their own unreal dream. A poacher they encounter and his Lithuanian wife are hard-pushed to make ends meet. Even LSD turns sour when the trip is a bad one. Death comes to seem the only freedom. When they arrive at THE BLOATED IGUANA in Scotshouse, they are insulted by SOME MEMBERS OF THE the local KEEP MONAGHAN CLEAN COMMITTEE as weirdo degenerates. They are arrested on some minor pretext by ACE sleuth DET.INSP. PAT CONKER and thrown in jail where they meet RYAN FIBS a liberal alcoholic lawyer with a MONOBROW and a stained WHITE SUIT But he gets them out and decides to join them on their trip to Ballyshannon in time for the annual head-banger festy.EASY DRINKER 2 is already in the works so qwe can all look forward to more thrilling adventures with 'Crazy Crazy' Pots and 'Kool-Aid' Nibbie-only this time as they BURN RUBBER all tHe way to LONGFORD!
3/10 ... Although faintly amusing with some visceral, if repetative, dialogue, McCabe just seems to be up to all his old tricks again... some notable camerawork though and a fecking kick-ass soundtrack - Tilda McSwinton - Northern Standard Arts
The condition known as tinnitus takes many forms.A profoundly deaf person may hear bells ringing inside his head.Continuously.For every waking moment.Or noises like escaping steam,or rushing water.What is less commonly know,however,is that these effects may be the result not of TINNITUS or any similar affliction,but,rather more simply,the outcome of the sufferer's failure to exhibit the required amount of MANNERS and COURTESY while attending a certain WORLD-FAMOUS festival in Monaghan.Thereby finding HIM or HER-self ROUNDLY smacked over the nut with the FESTIVAL CLUB!For which singular purpose it has been SET ASIDE.So the next time you feel tempted to quaff an inordinate number of CANS,and subsequently to roar from behind the concealment of some bushes or trees:'The Flatlake is a bags!'-I urge you,readers-THINK AGAIN! Or you'll be DIZZY all right,but not with excitement and cultural NOURISHMENT.No,you'll be like something you'd see at the fairground,with a sickly looking expression as you hold your head,not knowing,as the colloquial saying goes,your ARSE from your ELBOW.So,be forewarned Flakers-the CLUB is primed and waiting,behind GLASS!
FLATLAKE SIXTIES ROAD ANTHEM LYRIC COMPETITION
You can win ONE OUNCE OF TEA LEAVES!If you can complete this lyric,to the tune of STEPPENWOLF'S HIT BORN TO BE WILD-entries on a twig to Flartlake at this page:
LYRIC
"Get your tractor running
Head out on the highway...."
(More incompete SIXTIES ANTHEMS coming soon)
TONIGHT'S TELEVISION
8.15 PM
by Hoof Gurk
The classic serial
The first of seven episodes starring DERMOT CORK as NORBERT FINLAY with NORRIS GUMBOOT as 'THE MAJOR.'
Norbert has just learned that he has come last in the Scotshouse Ploughing Competition and that his wife Laetitia has disappeared to Ulan Bator.Elzabeth-Jane and Howard are reconciled but Patsy's peace is short-lived when he is scrunched into an unrecognisable mess by an out-of-control tractor on the Cornabooka Road.Unable to bear the shame of coming last in the finals,Norbert eats a live turkey and is incarcerated in St Funkie's Hospital.Meanwhile,in Scrubs,Henchard Kibby is pretending to be dead.
Donald Farfrae....JACK GALLOWAY
Elizabeth Jane.....JANET PUP
Newson...............SPRIGS MUTT
Labourer............STUGLET HANAFY
The Shitehawk Of Flatlake...MUTTSY 'CANS' MC GAW
Cook.....................BENNY BRIGGS
Abel Spudcake.......TOM TWIG
Music by Karl Alkie
Script Editor STORECALF MOONEY
Designer JONATHAN COMBOVER
Directed for FLATLAKE PRODUCTIONS by KEVIN (not 'Keith')ALLEN.
(Repeated next Friday at 11.10 pm,review by Robert Embitterment:page 78.)
Art Pick******
CHICK-LIT WRITER'S ADRIENNE MANOLO'S LATEST 'THAT BROPHY GIRL' has been given a cool reception from mens' groups all over the country.What's your verdict?Tune in tonight to Flatlake Review-in the meantime,here's an extract:
"It was the oldest story in the world.He was already married,she was married.Both had children.One night recently when she had been working late at the office he had murmured her name in a 'special' way.He hadn't even called her 'Miss Brophy' as usual.Suddenly they crashed into one another like felled trees.Wide kisses and grinding bodies,the sudden sag of her pelvic floor,how every pore pulled with a sucking on the other's skin.
-No!,whimpered Noodlie.
Each backed away,panting like athletes.His hair was thinning,both blue eyes too pale.She could see herself in them;rumpled,faded,flushed,faded.
In silence he drove her home.Her belly still radiating with guilt and shame-but also,yes,desire!-she opened the door to no.51,Cornabooka Avenue,Smudge.
-You're early',she heard her husband call out from the drawing room,'I haven't all the hoovering finished yet!'
Her face burnt with the fire of a thousand suns of shame-but still-she knew-HE was there!
*********
So-what's the verdict?Even in these LIBERATED times,do you think Noodlie Brophy has gone too far?Has WOMENS' LIB gone too far?FLATLAKE REVIEW-immediately after THE ROCKFORD FILES-is presented tonight by ELEANOR STANLEY JACKDAW.
TONIGHT'S TELEVISION
7.20-8.10
starring JAMES GARNER
in
The Trouble With Warren
Beth considers her cousin a genius and is peeved by Jim's low opinion of his intelligence,but it is borne out when Warren gets himself into a terrible tangle and she has to beg Jim to try to rescue him but to no avail whatsoever when,as usual,she discovers that the world-rated detective has once again locked himself in the outside lavatory.
Jim Rockford.....JAMES GARNER
Joseph Rockford....NOAH BEERY
Det Becker..........JOE SANTOS
Beth Davenport....GRETCHEN CORBETT
with
JAMES LUISI as 'The Number Two Man.'
LILY ALLEN
Well done to Lily Allen for winning the three prizes in England last night(IVOR NOVELLO)from all your friends and colleagues in The Butty Barn.
K.Carrington(Dynasty)
NUDIE MARY MONKEY shortlisted for prize!
Yes it was champagne all round here at Flatlake Towers when news came through that Aine ('Giddy Goat')Totebag,our chick-lit writer in residence here at the festival,was informed that her VERY FIRST NOVEL-book NUMBER ONE,to be followed by THOUSANDS-has been shortlisted for THE SILVER HATPIN award,in the USA.Yes,NUDIE MARY MONKEY GETS A HUSBAND has beaten off all the competition-which included,readers note!-such luminaries as BUDGEEN HALLIGAN and NOELEEN SCUAB,author of TAKE ME INTO THE BROOM CUPBOARD,PATSY!It's going to be a nail-biting finish,girls!But all our money is on Aine the giddy goat!Walk out with her,Mary 'An Moncai!'Fine girl ye are!
There were angry scenes at the PRODUCTION OFFICE late last evening when an assortment of loud noises and what those present took to be an animal of some kind,perhaps trapped in some brambles,turned out to be local man HUGHIE STOCIOUS,who in spite of being restrained,succeeded in bursting into the office and accused all and sundry of running what he described as 'a bags of a festival!' with nothing in it only 'clowns with too much education',coming over here from England to 'pish',as he termed it,in the 'bushes,'But his abuse was not confined to our Saxon poetry and theatre-loving friends.No,venom of an even more spiteful nature was reserved for none other than sucsessful novelist HOOF GURK-who,Stocius claimed,owed him 'thousands of pounds',adding that if he didn't get it that the 'so-called writer would soon be wearing his 'pancreas' for a hat.
'We'll see how many prizes THE NOSINESS OF PROTESTANTS will win then!',he scoffed as he departed.
('The Nosiness Of Protestants' by Hoof Gurk,ISBN£@9,is published by PARNSIP PRESS of London,at £15.99)
VIDEO REQUEST
.....and we realise it is a LONG SHOT but would any of our readers/listeners happen to have a VHS copy of the 1978 film SHE-WOLVES OF KNOCKNAMINSHA?
Collectors should not that this is not to be confused with the KIDNAMINSHA version,which was later-Kidnaminsha being in the southern part of the county,of course-near Carrickmacross.KNOCKNAMINSHA being closer to BROOMFIELD,Castleblayney direction.
Also:STRUCTURE OF MILK PRODUCTION IN SCOTLAND,1880-1887.Any chance?
Many thanks
The Captain.
Tich and Quackers-are they coming?
Impossible as yet to give a final decision.Suffice to say that negotiations are still continuing.But we will keep you posted.
Terrific News
Really great news about eighties soap star KRYSTLE CARRINGTON agreeing to perform with LILY ALLEN this year at The Flatlake Festival.We all knew it was a long shot but now that it is a certainty we can all heave a collective sigh of relief.Now I wonder:might it be possible to coax JOAN 'ALEXIS'COLLINS into doing something similar,perhaps with local outfit CALFSHED,for example?I can just imagine hostilities BREAKING OUT between her and her former rival KRYSTLE,and the pair of them TUMBLING off THE BUTTY BARN stage together,tearing big lumps out of one another,and everyone laughing with CANS and all.What a laugh it would be!


Well done,a bhuachailli agus a chailini!Slan libh-An Maistir!
VAMPIRES BEWARE!
I see from adverts for other FESTIVALS that they are having VAMPIRE WEEKENDS and STRANGE BOY-TYPE invitations.Well let me make this clear from the off,you bloodsucking troublemaking effers-if sight nor sign of VAMPIRES is seen at the world-famous flatlake festival,you will have a lot more to worry youse than TORCH-BEARING mobs or CLOVES OF GARLIC!!Believe you me,this is not a joke-if any reports reach mine of KEVIN ALLEN'S ears regaring MOONLIT CREEPINGS or SHADOWY appearances at TALL WINDOWS,those sharp-fanged NARCISSISTS in CAPES will be a sorry-looking lot by the time we're finished with them.If you want that type of thing,why not eff off back to DR KRONOS or NOSFERATU or one of those clients,where I presume your so-called NEEDS will be adequately looked after.But don't bother your pale arses coming about the vicinity of SCOTSHOUSE.I hope I make myself clear.
The Captain.
Yes we have been cautious but at long last it can be revealed-EMU is definitely coming to the festival.But without ROD HULL,because of course he fell off a ROOF.Welcome to the gang,Emu!
Yes,we will.But rest assured it won't be a prang-toothed bloodsucking cur,whether he is 15 yrs old or not.Standing there gawking sucking his chops,intimidating ordinary non-bloodsucking ticket-holders.Yes,blond,beady-eyed Scandinavians with dark eyes-we WILL let the right one in.But it won't be YOU!
are and indeed the black and white variety too so I am afraid The Captain hasn't the slightest bit of attention in giving advice on farmyard matters.Principally because he is too busy placing a post here regarding the imminent appearence of one BUTTY THE BUDDHIST at The Flatlake Festival.Yes,Butty Narps,the local Hindu man,will be mounting his own tent with placards of wisdom outside,along the lines of:I have never seen a man lost who was on a straight path,if you cannot stand a sting do not put your finger in the hornet's nest and unless you want your head kicked in don't be coming in scrounging free drink at The Captain's Bar.Looking forward to doses of wisdom,this year folks!And all courtesy of Butty Narps,Healer To The Stars!(What may appear to you to be a clump of bushes could be some lunatic who has stolen THE FESTIVAL CLUB! AND HAS EVERY INTENTION OF BATEING THE HEAD OFF YOU WITH IT!
I wonder if you could help me. One of my Saddleback sows just delivered 13 healthy piglets. However, given that she was covered by a rare wooly Hungarian Mangalitza, all 13 piglets are unquestionably black and white, sporting not hint of any rare orangy wooliness whatsoever. Do you have any knowledge of phantom 'covering' in Mohaghan ? Or could this be the work of someone up to no good ?
Yours,
Fay Weldon - Remmington Cottage - Biggsley Kingsteighnton - Dorset
PS ... I found your inhaler tucked away behind the divan ...feel free to call around to collect it when you're next over.
As you can see below we have just received a post from the Emperor Of Ethiopia regarding the availability of NAUTICAL CRAFT.Well,does anybody know where His Royal Highness might get a boat?I think maybe Hogan's of The Cross rent them out.Anyway I'll make enquiries.Wouldn't like to see our old pal Hayley stuck!Especially since his first big hit 'Me Like whistle Down De Wind,Man!' happens to be one of The Captain's favourite reggae tunes.So,mash it up,Hayley,we on de case!
One love. rastafari. lion.
Hayley Selassi-Mills - Chelsea Harbour - 
Wise men say...burble gurgle...only fools rush...gurgle blup...gurgle..in...phlupp phlup...but I can't help falling in blup..blup..blup..you.'
Excerpt from the Jacques Cousteau-directed "ELVIS AT 50,000 FATHOMS' inc 'In the Ghetto' and 'Hound-Dog',available on RCA Victor,catalogue..blup..number..glukk..IsB 675%.
UNCONFIRMED REPORTS
Unconfirmed,but reliable,reports would seem to indicate that LADY GA GA('Poker face' etc),committed reader of the RADIO BUTTY BLOG,is slated to re-record the CHARLIE DRAKE 1950's hit MY BOOMERANG WON'T COME BACK.If she does,one thing is for certain and that is that it is going to be our NUMBER ONE power play here on RADIO BUTTY.Let's hear it for LADY GA GA and C DRAKE,entertainers to all the kids and a devout,adoring public.
ACID BATH RUMOURS
Is it true that Reginald Haig,'The Acid Bath Murderer' visited the Cordoo area at some time in the late nineteen forties?And that he,reportedly,invited Mrs Ellen Toodie to 'come for a drive with him at that time?Or is this just baseless rumour,similar to the gossip that swept through the area some years ago,to the effect that a certain Mr 'Ted Bundy' had been seen in Willie Creedon's Bar & Grocery,Lacken,apparently purchasing a 'packet of Park Drive cigarettes'-with it later transpiring that the mass-murderer Bundy had,in fact,been nowhere near the vicinity.And that it all had been Bunty Meenie's idea of 'a joke'.And not a very funny one,either,as most right-thinking people conceded later on.So unless you have firm evidence regarding the visit of Mr Haig to the district,somewhere around 1945-46, we don't want to know about it.
Information Caravan 'Public Information' Dept.
GORDON JACKSON,"Easy Listening At The North Pole",rec. 1968,Decca label.
FLATLAKE SWAP 'N TRADE:
Would any of your listeners,asks Diarmuid O Cathasaigh of Lacken,Co Cavan,happen to have a print of the (now rare)postcard of DR CRIPPEN'S 1948 visit to Ireland?Buyer waiting-prepared to pay cash.apparently he stopped in Bunacdrush on his trip here.Thanks!

There was much rejoicing here at Flatlake Towers when news came in that Irish Writers,as we have long suspected,have been officially proclaimed THE BEST IN THE WORLD,seeing off competition from as far afield as RUSSIA and INDIA.Leading the pack,according to spokesman
Nij Aldjoek,Sweden,was AINE NI SCIOB,whose essay "The Importance Of Semi-Colons In North Cork Gaelic Poetry 1560-1561' is soon to be featured in NANA,a magazine of new second generation feminist writing and BIC PENN,a 17 year old 'wunderkind' from Kilmallock,whose synthesis of HIP HOP slang and gypsy talk,HANDBALL ALLEY HO' DOWN,SUCKER! has astonished judges..Russian novelists,Aldjoek claimed,conceded defeat with an 'impressive' grace,and THE ENGLISH,having only managed to trail home in 155th place with AN ARRANGEMENT OF CONKERS,by Betsy De William-Fortnum,were reportedly 'LIVID.'
So,well done again The Irish!We mightn't have an arse in our trousers but boy can we write the poems and NOVELS!As a matter of fact I think I'll go off and write one myself.'It was a moonlight night in old Cullybuttkins and Mrs Doris Nutbird was making her way after a feed of prayers at the evening Benediction.When,suddenly,out from behind a bush popped-THE WOLFMAN!
So what do you htink?I'd give it 5 stars!*****
But that's only because it was writted by me.More next week:DORIS NUTBIRD FALLS FOUL OF THE LYCANTHROPE and THE MINOTAUR DROPS IN FOR A CHAT WTH HUGHIE STOCIOUS.
Did anyone happen to find Mrs Meenie Mc Gimp's husband in or around last weekend?She left word the The Information Caravan that he popped into Hughie's of Swann's Cross by Hackney for 'a wee one' and,after that,literally disapppeared into thin air.Has anyone connected with the festival seen him by any chance?A man answering his description was seen in the vicinity of Ward's Of the Gap but this has since been established as nothing other than a pile of old clothes,comprising a waistcoat and a tie with some spots.If you do see him,make sure and tell him his wife has 'the dinner' on for him-his favourite,chops-with a little dab of mint sauce.'
The noted UK author JOHN RUSKIN has just agreed to 'pop along' on June 4th.John,of course,is the eminent author of that searing piece of English prose,'On Locomotives.' Also in discussions is STEPHEN LEACOCK,author of THE HUMAN ELEMENT IN MATHEMATICS.(1869-1944)
All eyes in the literary world are on DERMOT CORK('Stella Maris',Cornageeha Cross) this weekend,after Dermot,having submitted his novel MR MOONEY MADE MY MRS for the prestigious CONCRETE BOLLARD AWARD,LONDON,stunned readers and the general public by WINNING the award OUTRIGHT,Clement Lacunae,a spokesman for the company stated today(via Reuters)'Mr Cork may have with this novel created an entirely new strand of literature.Critics who have suggested that we are not open to 'popular' fiction may have to remain quiet after this.It is a whole new sub-genre,'similar in its way to the now exhausted CHICK LIT.For my own part,the most casual of perusals identified at least 34 'nudie' parts on each age-which can't be bad!So from now on 'nay sayers' who claim that we favour only titles such as THE TENDERNESS OF BUDGIES,THE ISOLATION OF AARDVARKS,or indeed THE NOSINESS OF PROTESTANTS,may have to eat their hat(s).'
Doesn't it turn out that Mrs Meenie's husband of thirty years-he wasn't lost at all,but was in at the back of Hughie Stocious's all the time!
'What's all the fuss about?',quipped the redoubtable Bunty as he zipped up his fly.
Celebrated Dublin novelist Anthony Tick(Booker Prize,Uk Nevada Award,Showcakes International Prize)has hit out at Flatlake's OWN literary sensation HOOF GURK by claiming that his most recent work THE NOSINESS OF PROTESTANTS owes much to Tick's own most recent novel
AN URGENCY OF HAIRY HORSES,which was published by Feeble & Tooks of London earlier this year.Perhaps not unsurprisingly,Mr Gurk has in turn responded vigorously,pledging that if 'That ***er Tick shows his face near Flatlake,then he is in danger of getting what Mr Gurk describes as blu** fu** kicked out of him.
This is a literary spat which we here at The Information Caravan will be watching with keen interest.
'So I'm standing there,right,just at the bus stop and this guy comes up,right,wearing this raincoat,right,and says:Is this a 31 or is that the next one?' I mean-come on!-what's that all about?'
Then:
You wake up you've just been doing Margate then-whumph-it's like the Twin Towers-man you can't beiieve it-the wife is stil asleep-and there's your kids-bish bash bosh bosh-and you think-wish I was an alkie like I used to be in the eighties before I landed my BBC series-you know abaht kids they're like Al Quaeda aren't they-my agent says I ought to bring them on the show-you know he's right-Crispin he's like,I swear,Osama Bin farkin'--what's that dear?There's not enough olives?Gotta go!
"As my hit song goes,I Drink Alone!' says Canadian heavy metaller and rhythm and blues exponent nonpareil GEORGE THOROGOOD,'Except when I'm in Hughies,that is!(Don't forget-Texas Hold 'Em and Gun Club Treasure Hunt this weekend!)
THE CHOICES THIS MONTH,READERS ARE:
1)NUDIE MARY MONKEY GETS A HUSBAND
2)TOOTLE BUNYAN O YOU ARE A COW!
3)GLORIOUSLY BLONDE AND A BUCKET AND A HALF OF HALFPENNIES
and
4)GIDDY GOAT BRESLIN-WHERE'S THAT GIRL!
Final choices will be unveiled next Monday.See you then-Ger!

sorry-mistake.
'Me and my mates is coming over to this Flatlake,roi',and we is gonna duff you up,got it,you and all them hippies and that and all them clowns wot does knitting and wees in ditches,it's crap!'
Joe Hawkins,central protagonist of the celebrated RICHARD ALLEN novels,SUEDEHEAD,SKINHEAD and SKINHEAD RIDES AGAIN(1974)
Please,visitors,when you return to the fair green slopes of Albion-can you point out to Joe the error of his ways?Maybe say this to him:'We live in a changed society,Joseph.So come on now,cut up that crombie and let's all go down to the gastropub for a bevvy,sparkling or still.'
Unconfirmed sources suggest that 'insider' information indicates that,following on from the 'northern troublemaker' alert of some years ago,predictions of rollnecked MANIACS with dark glasses descending on this year's festival,hell-bent on 'getting their kicks' any old way they can,are being taken very seriously indeed.But,if we hold our heads,these ruffians with their bongos and volumes of poetry will soon get short shrift-at Ireland's premier festival,and will be counting themselves lucky if they don't get their 'crazy crazy arses' kicked right up into their necks!
END OF 'BEATNIK' FESTIVAL ALERT.
_____________________________________________
"Yes I remember Adlestrop...
come to think of it,now that you mention it..
And the faces of the ROBBERS!
Yes,it's true-the fabled star of eighties television series 'DYNASTY' (also THE STUD,THE BITCH ,both with OLIVER TOBIAS)has confirmed that she is 'on board' for the forthcoming bumpy lake festival,SET TO WIPE the 'flatlake' off the map.When contacted by The Mountnugent Herald,Joan-wearing a fabulous Christian Dior diamante gown-'It's my first trip to the legendary BUMPY LAKE.But,rest assured,if half of what 'the Captain' has told me is true,I am set fair to knock 'seven kinds of sh*** out of the smug and self-assured so-called FLATLAKE FESTIVAL.Just as I busted up Krystle(Not Crystal Swing-Krystle Carrington)all those years ago,in 1985.Say hello to all the good people of County Monaghan for me,please.Except so-called 'farmer' Kevin Allen.I wonder how much he'll farm after this year's festival-when he's hiding in a cave in Bora Tora or somewhere,in complete disgrace.'
(Joan is currently appearing in a 4-part remake of "The Longest Day",in which she takes the ROBERT MITCHUM part.)

THE CAPTAIN'S RESPONSE TO FLATLAKE SLANDER-
ME:Hello,Alexei.I'm one of your biggest fans.What do you think of womens' lib?
ALEXEI:What do I think of it?
ME:Yes.Do you think that maybe it's gone too far?
I'm all nervous wondering what his answer is going to be!
"In this sedulously approbatory resume of poultry orientated manifestations,in no manner unappeasable or exclusive of luminous exercosity,this excursion into formal experiment and innovation not from any ramdom or modish avant garder at no time indicative of the stagnant ooze of inanition whole widening the focus of his inquiry one's absorption in the unappeasable not to say gross libel or calumny of fowl aligns one's views with the concentrated essence of what might he termed an essentially sedative world,one where sterner realities were at best tangential and a`t worst occlusive to the extent that the ghostly prefigurations of one's wintry apprehensions might be considered of more substance than the baleful winged and frugal avians scrabbling unceasingly in the dirt.A mystery ineed."
Dr Pip Alphonsus Theakston,Chief Literary Critic and Author of 'A Festchrift For Krik:Tom at Seventy."
And might I add that no-one chortled more HEARTILY than his own BROTHER-Pliny The Elder-when he saw what had happened!
Still,as I say,it's a great way of letting off some steam,and when he had cleaned himself up,Mickey sat down and joined us for a sambo and a bottle of pop,remarking as he did so to his friends and older brother:'Sure if you can't have a bit of a yarn and a laugh,what have you.Especially when it's Flatlake time again!' And how true that is.
Just a brief post here.Flakers,regarding the festival club.Which is an irregularly-shaped large COSH type of implement which wIll be pressed into service without compunction if any lip or 'witty' banter is directed at either myself or the organisers of the festival throughout the course of the forthcoming weekend.If you find this assertion unconvincing,might I suggest that you ask a MR HOOF GURK,a certAIN SELF-STYLED novelist our acquaintance,who found himself last year coming to very close quarters indeed with the same FESTIVAL CLUB,when he got a good hard welt of it across the back of the head,for calling people names,and shouting up abuse whilst other better-mannered and mORE TALENTED NOVELISTS were reading.
Here ends the announcement regarding the FESTIVAL CLUB.

Now whether this communication which has just arrived at the Information Caravan is authentic or not,or is just an another example of friendly 'Flakers' having a laugh at our expense,but there is something which one feels a little bit sinister about its appearance-a tone not diminished by the fact that it is entirely made up of cut-out pieces of paper which read:
Dick Barton out of 'Dick Barton,Special Agent!' from the wireless years ago.(Snowy,old age pensioners and vintage radio drama enthusiasts wil remember,was his loyal and trusted,if a tad ineffectual,sidekick.)
It can now be revealed-with negotiations,apparently-at an advanced stage,that none other than MICHAEL J POLLARD(ie:CW MOSS,the petrol pump attendant in the arthur penn flick BONNIE AND CLYDE,has expressed strong interest in the role of KEVIN ALLEN,farmer and festival organiser,in the proposed BIOPIC of his life.Kevin,is of course,the uncle of FLATLAKE STAR LILY ALLEN,and was not available for comment when contacted.But he is reported to be 'cautiously in favour ',having flatly rejected the earlier suggestion of SLY STALLONE as being 'much too rough' and not possessing the range to portray what he considers his 'tender side.'M.J POLLARD,he feels,may be in a position to capture 'his essence' as he describes it,and consequently will be following him around Hilton with buckets,and going into Enda Connolly's shop to order nails and spades and other assorted ironmongery.
Happily,we are in a position to announce that none other than ARTHUR HAILEY,epochal author of AIRPORT and other blockbusting NOVELS OF the seventies WILL BE COMING TO READ FOR US AT FLATLAKE.Arthur wil be bringing his own HOTEL.

It was,as they often say during the football matches,a very close call indeed when Agnes Von Daniken,ace lenswoman and documentary film-maker nearly met a sticky end when the door of a PYRAMID she was filming mysteriously SLAMMED shut and trapped her inside the bowels of the 2000 year old building,in mortal terror of being split in two by swinging blades and out-of-nowhere hammers that these structures are notorious for.Luckily,her author uncle ERICH happened to be nearby and swung into action,closing his eyes and communicating with 'mysterious forces' veyond our ken,and withing a matter of minutes the door had SWUNG OPEN,and out skipped his niece,once again safe and sound,free to continue with her filming of Egypt and the general area around Luxor and Alexandria.But keen readers will note that-by some uncanny coincidence-the cinema in Clones,now sadly demolished,was also at one time called -yes,the Luxor!
There are some things,perhaps,which we are not meant to understand.ERICH VON DANIKEN'S BOOKS include CHARIOTS OF THE GODS,SON OF CHARIOTS OF THE GODS,and GODS' CHARIOTS,availble from VINTAGE and PARSNIP imprints.

"Happy" Nudie Mulligan will be performing his hit 'Do Earwigs Dream Of Acoustic Ewes?' at the Feile Oriel campsite on Saturday.All welcome!
Fine Girl Ye Are!

Yes,the famed screen legend RIP TORN,following a most regrettable misunderstanding with the production office,in which he claimed his Brooke Bond tea was like something you'd expect to get in a gypsy camp,stormed off down the main avenue waving his fist,but not before threatening to 'tell all' to the Mountnugent Herald.Which he did-and it was with a heavy heart that organisers PAT MC CABE and KEVIN ALLEN opened the pages of their local read this morning to find the following:
"What I'd like to know is-who does Kevin 'Twin Town' Allen think he is dealing with?Does he not know that I have starred in over 250 pictures,scalped more injuns and busted up more bars than him or any of his so-called Flatlake desperadoes have ever dreamed of.Normally I am a patient man but after being left for over THREE MINUTES waiting for my cup of Brooke,I said to myself 'Rip this is the end of the line.' There's just no WAY I am going to take that doo doo.And I'll tell you something else-when I get back to Tinseltown there is gonna be one hell of a hoo-haa about this.I'm told they were hoping to get RED BUTTONS for this year also.Well,after this,rest assured,they're going to have a long wait.Flatlake?I spit on its grave!'
1.Trigger Bar Wrapper.
2.Front page of Ireland's Own.
3.Corrugated cardboard lid.
4.Inside of fag packet.
5.Cellophane square.
6.Lined page of copybook.
7.Envelope.
8.Jaffa orange tissue(purple)
9.Card(as in Xmas or 'birthday')
10.Cheque(used or blank)

There was a time in this country when such behaviour may have been tolerated.I'm sorry,Turkey-but you've gone and let yourself down again.
It has come to our attention that a can of alcoholic drink from last year's festival-regrettably empty,and unrecognisably twisted and bent out of shape-has been found in the vicinity of the rose garden.If possible,would the owner of this item please make him or herself known at the information caravan.Thank you.

"If you don't stop writing ridiculous nonsense about SEVENTIES DETECTIVES,might I suggest to you that you will be very sorry for ONE MORE MENTION of either me or MACMILLAN AND WIFE or BOSLEY out of CHARLEY'S ANGELS and,in spite of my reputation as all round good guy I will personally come around there and show you what a REAL LAKE looks like-and it won't be one that is FLAT or FULL OF WATER-no,because it will be a lake of BLOOD!
Hibner Hackett & Staircase
Attorneys acting on behalf of J Rockford
(Seventies Detective)


Lady Ga Ga,Los Angeles.
"Jim Rockford does number two's in his trousers."
Information Caravan Staff
or


Many thanks.
"Gilly Hairpin is a Newtown scutbag!"
Fonsey Gurgle.
1.Stephen Gately
2.James Joyce
3.Craig Doyle
4.Eamon De Valera
5.Brendan O Connor
6.WB Yeats
7.Rowan Hamilton
8.Jiminy Cricket
9.Paddy Reilly(from Ballyjamesduff)
10.Michael Collins
GET VOTING,FLAKERS!
'Have you any superstitions?',Tuesday writes,I asked Bobby Darin recently,'None at all'he replied,I used to have one,though.Before every performance I would shake hands with my drummer.giving him a real steely handshake and a smile.But then one night just as I was doing it,I neglected to hear a stagehand cry:'Look out!' and because of that a one and a half-ton Steinway piano fell on my head.So,as you can imagine,Tuesday,no more superstitions for me!'
Next week in Weemen Weekly:Tuesday writes on 'the modern girl'-the 'It' girl with her eye on poledancing as a means of empowerment,whose heorine is JORDAN and whose dream is a year long subscription to OK! magazine.See you then,girls!
ANSWER:TIMOTHY LEA(EXACT SAME AS TIMOTHY O GRADY,AUTHOR OF "MOTHERLAND" AND "I COULD READ THE SKY" AS WELL AS MANY OTHER MARVELLOUS WORKS,INCLUDING A TRAVELOGUE OF THE US ENTITLED 'DIVINE MAGNETIC LANDS.'
'The removal of Pads' Hogan(author of many highly-regarded novels about lepers)remains will take place from St Aine's Church,Shroid,at 6pm sharp tomorrorow(Thursday)evening.All scribes attending ought to note:tweed hats oblligatory.Ar dheis De go raibh a anam.'
WAITER;Would you like still or sparkling,Mr Hanafy?
STUGLET:Still,please.I used to be a crazy alcoholic in the eighties.One night I had THREE bottles of Harp.
WAITER:Very well sir.
STUGLET:Thank you,waiter.Have you ever noticed-..?
WAITER:Sorry sir I have to go.
(more excerpts from the crazy life of Stuglet next week.'I did a day's a work' and 'Look at my tumour-its not so funny now!'
"Tyger tyger burning bright
In the forests of the night.."
Fonsey Gurgle

No it wasn't that.
Damn!
I'm letting the literary side of the festival down.I'll have to buck up or we'll be in disgrace.
Aspiring writers need look no further if a fisherman-style tweed hat with a feather is what they are after.Flatlake Fiction Dept. have three of these to give away,for all young(and old)would-be writers to pop on whenever the mood takes them to leave the house after a prolonged bout of penmanship,to 'take the air.' This Flatlake once-off could be yours if you can answer the following questions and send your reply to:TWEED HAT COMPETITION,THE BUTTY BARN,HILTON.
@)Is it 'Flatlake' or 'Flatlakes?' and
b)Where is Krakatoa?
So get guessing,aspirant scribes!The winners wi be announced at a gala presentation near a neat pile of dung in the lower yard not far from the actual 'flat' lake itself.
(From The Hilton Intelligencer)
SORRY ABOUT THAT,FLATLAKERS,BUT BY WAY OF SUBSTITUTE WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN ON TO CHARLIE BRONSON'S PEOPLE AND WITH A BIT OF LUCK CHARLIE 'THE MECHANIC' WILL COME INSTEAD-IF 'THE HEAT' ARE NOT ONTO HIM,IN PHOENIX OR SOMEPLACE HA HA!
Cast it now-also taking votes at leperline.com/fiction/http.
G.Handbag
(Authoress of 'Flies' and 'Work In Progress.')

'When I think of Flatlake,I think most of all of the lowing of cattle beyond the hedgerows in Drum,the to and fro of lorries on the Monaghan-Cavan road,the sipping of porter in quiet bars at evening,a love of flowers,addivtion to hobbies,and old maids bicycling to Holy Communion through the mists of Autumn morning.But most of all,of Crystal Swing as they perform the Hucklebuck to bales of hay in the barn at evening,before drinking tequila and belting out all kinds of filth and dirt in Spanish.'
See you soon in The Butty Barn,Stuggers!

LEPERS-have your say!In spirte of the death of your champion 'dead' PADS HOGAN!
Audie Murphy,famous air ace and actor,has agreed to land his plane(a 1948 twin engine Dakota)on the field just outside Hilton where Aidan Coleman used to play.isn't that just fantastic?Flatlake goes from strength to strength.

"All eyes will be on The Flatlake Festival this coming June 4-6 when the inaugural "SEVENTIES ASSASSIN OF THE YEAR" ,at which,or so the rumour mill has it,appearances by no less personages as WALTER MATTHAU(Charley Varrick)JOE DON BAKER("MOLLY")and SCORPIO out of DIRTY HARRY are scheduled to delight patrons.Also slotted although not yet confirmed is JIM ROCKFORD,although he will have to GET SOMEONE TO MIND HIS caravan.I hope he comes.I also hope KARL MALDEN does but he won't because he was BLOWN AWAY on the STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO some years ago ha ha!More 'Assassin' news as it breaks.
Just landed on Kevin's desk is the fabulous news that THE NOSINESS OF PROTESTANTS by HOOF GURK has beaten off all opposition and now goes into the final for the novel of the year in the BUXTERPARPAR BAKING SODA FICTION PRIZE,in which it is hotly tipped to beat not only THE MYSTERY OF HENS by Tom Krik but also THE HAIRINESS OF BUMBLE BEES by up and coming writer and feminist CLARA BUXTON(in Irish Clara Ni Wuckston)-we here at The Butty Barn cannot conceal our excitement,especially since Hoof near miss last year with THE FLUFFINESS OF SNOW.Roll on September,Hoof,and get that jacket out for the grand presentation of prizes in Newbliss Parish Hall.
I would like to take this opportunity to register my disapproval and great displeasure at some of the opinions voiced at the GREAT FLATLAKE FEMINIST DEBATE-I thought that we had grown out of all that.However,clearly not.Whether it has taken place as yet or not is,quite frankly,of no interest to me or Bualachas,my cat.
Yours etc
Aine Sciob,woman and owner of Bualachas,West Cork
(You should of been there the first year-it was great)
Shockingly,it has just come to our notice that the entries in the Annual Flatlake Memoir Competition have somehow been inadvertently been mislaid and so we have no choice but to award first prize to a friend of Kevin's from England who,although he never went to St Munchen's College,without demur sat down at his computer and tapped us up this mighty first draft which has been awarded the fifrst Flatlake Memoir prize.You can download MEMOIRS OF ST MUNCHEN'S at www.halfasixepnce,alsvojlic,over 7&4 or just ring me or Kevin.So well done,Nick Bunkett of Notting Hill.Here's an excerpt:
"As I sit here alone in the quiet of the Big Study,watching the last golden slabs of evening light as they fall on the weathered oak of these ancient desks which have seen so many scholars like myself resting here as we dream of girls with crisp white blouses and how we would love to run away across the landscape of the little hills with their fresh forms decked around our great fat necks like scarves,it occurs to me how many years have passed since I first entered the portals of St Munchen's,to my surprise havong my arse kicked into my neck by none other than Choobs Mc Gurk,who is now President Of Washcorp International,an appointment of which the college is very proud.As I was too,as I closed the big study door ever so gently behind me,anticipating a committed perusal of my stack ofmagazines,strategically placed beneath the dormitory lockers,just as soon as night prayer had been satisfactorily concluded.'
Further excerpts from memoirs of ST MUNCHEN'S to be posted throughout the festival.Tomorrow:'The Strange Case Of The Missing Football Socks.'
'I think all the people taking part in the feminist debate are a disgrace to their gender.They should all be at home watching Sex And The City and reading Take A Break magazine.I'm disgusted,quite frankly'
"The Nosiness Of Protestants is the finest debut by a writer with a tweed hat since Ernest Hemmingway,or indeed before.More please,Mr Gurk.'
The Mountnugent Herald
NEWS JUST IN!JAMES JOYCE TO BE OFFICIALLY DISINTERRED FOR SPECIAL APPEARANCE AT FLATLAKE FESTIVAL-TO BE INTRODUCED BY CHRIS EVANS!BY THE WAY DO ANY WOMEN WANT TO BE IN THE BIG FEMINIST DEBATE?IF YOU DO CONTACT THE OFFICE ON THE MAIN PAGE ESPECIALLY IF YOU THINK MEN SHOULD BE PITCHFORKED IF THEY DON'T BUY THEIR WIVES ENOUGH HANDBAGS.
'I hope its not like last year when it rained 2000 tons of pish'-Sacred Heart Messenger.