I WROTE about urban myths. You know, those stories that are told second hand and are passed on as if gospel.
They used to be told person to person but, in these days of the internet, they go around the world at the speed of light.
One story I was told 40 years ago was that one of the elephants from Blackpool Tower Zoo had sat on a bubble car that was parked on the promenade and popped all its windows out.
Daft, I know. But I believed it.
The tale prompted memories from Stewart Gledhill of Golcar.
“Reading about your urban myths and Blackpool story brought something back to mind. When I was a little lad in the 1950s, we used to go to Blackpool for our holidays and I remember getting a newspaper called Billy's Weekly Liar that had all sorts of stories that were strangers from the truth.
“I can still remember one of the headlines: Skeleton Found Dead On Blackpool Beach. It still makes me chuckle.”
It would have been a better story if a skeleton had been found alive, but you can't have everything.
Blackpool, of course, did have everything in the 1950s, including a Golden Mile that boasted penny arcades, phrenologists, fortune tellers, candy floss and sideshows featuring live mermaids and hairy ladies.
Billy’s Weekly Liar, which was published in Preston and sold on the Golden Mile, was perfect for its time and place. It’s motto was Smile Dammit Smile and, as well as spoof news stories, it was packed with bad gags such as: “A football scout from a Midland club is interested in Dan Druff from Ayr.”
They don't write them like that anymore. Except in this column.
