Many people will remember Miroslav Šašek's "This Is..." series of illustrated guide books for children. Following his famous works on London, Edinburgh, Ireland, Paris and New York, Šašek turned his attention to 1970s Scarfolk.
He worked on “This is…Scarfolk” for several months and included many recognisable places and people: the pagan Officist cult deity, Mr Johnson (see Discovering Scarfolk for more details); Kak the bird, mascot of the 'Don't' public information campaign, and the Council Christmas Boy.
However, when Šašek submitted the manuscript to the BCWA, the council's Board of Censorship and Whimsical Annihilation, he found himself facing legal obstacles.
The council felt that the book contained "untruths which could cast the town in a bad light". Firstly, the council complained that the front of the Scarfolk Death Bus on the book's cover was blood splattered, "which suggests that [the bus] wilfully drives at people with the intention of knocking them down, whereas, in actual fact, community Death Bus drivers prefer to back up over pedestrians who are dilly-dallying on pavements or in the doorways of shops".
The council also complained about the depiction of a nuclear mushroom cloud. A devastating accident at the local nuclear plant had not been scheduled for at least three more years.
Finally, the Council Christmas Boy did not like to be looked at under any circumstances and cursed the project. When a test print run of 20 copies was made, mysterious falling figures appeared on the covers. One week later 20 people connected with the book inexplicably threw themselves from the roof of the council building. They survived, but only briefly, as they were all quickly backed over by the Scarfolk Death Bus. It is perhaps these events which in part led to the Falling Disorder campaign.
The publication was cancelled and all that remains of it is the cover above.
Brilliant! Hopefully a surviving copy will be unearthed. I'd give two arms to see the whole thing and add it to my Sasek collection.
ReplyDeleteDon't.
DeleteI have no money and have vomit in my turn ups I had a wonderful afternoon in the pub but can't find my way home please help ....
ReplyDeleteI have no money and my turn ups are filled with vomit I had a wonderful afternoon in the pub but can't find my way home please help me...
ReplyDelete"For more information please reread" absolutely cracks me up!
ReplyDeleteYou haven't addressed the Death bus timetable scandal of August 1977. Too many facts have been buried. We have a right to know.
ReplyDeleteTalk like that,will reward you with a black-spot certificate.Perhaps you should forget to remember why you came into the room.
ReplyDeleteSasek is also believed to have published a 'This is Arbour island' book about the mysterious Arbour Island off the south coast of Ireland where the mysterious city of Allenby is located which is the setting of my debut comedy thriller novel. like the Death Bus of Scarfolk, there was a bus in Allenby which was famously hijacked by a gang of flamboyant hairdressers.
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