In Competition No. 2533 you were invited to submit an obituary of a well-known fictional character, which gave you the opportunity to try your hand at what is an often underrated art. The only fictional character that I am aware of who has been honoured with an obituary in the real world is Hercule Poirot, whose death was marked by a front-page splash on 6 August 1975 — in the New York Times, no less.
There was a record postbag this week, with a welcome influx of newcomers. Popular subjects included William Brown, Sherlock Holmes and various members of the cast of the Pooh stories. While some of you stuck fairly closely to the fictional facts, others indulged in flights of fancy. Thus Nigel Harding had Gandalf the Grey, post-battle with the Balrog, metamorphosing into Gandalf the White and developing the first biological washing powder. Commendations to Noel Petty, Alanna Blake, Dorothy Pope and Basil Ransome-Davies.
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