Competition | 6 September 2008

In Competition No 2560 you were invited to describe a visit to Glyndebourne or Glastonbury in the style of an author of your choice. But first a memo from Doctor Johnson re. his recent Competition 2558 (Harmless drudgery) in which he let through a contribution that confused a ‘roadie’ with a ‘groupie’. To the lady who drew his attention to the error, he apologises unreservedly and adds, as is his wont, an explanation for allowing the wrong definition: ‘Ignorance, madam, pure ignorance.’

Back to the current Comp: this was another big field and of a high standard, especially the Glastonbury offerings. Lots of entries were good enough for the winners’ enclosure — would this were larger! — notably Carolyn Beckingham’s William McGonagall, Alana Blake’s Wordsworth, Barry Baldwin’s Kingsley Amis, Mike Morrison’s Emily Dickinson, Paul Griffin’s A.A. Milne, Adrian Fry’s Boris Johnson, and two excellent Henry Jameses from Sid Field and G.M.