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Captain Birdseye and other people of rank

Regular readers may recall that I once doubted the existence of Yeo Valley. I'd never heard of the Yeo mountain range and I therefore rated the likelihood of there being a valley at somewhere between 0 and 5%. Of course, I had yoghurt all over my face when I discovered that the place really does exist. Somewhere in Somerset, I seem to recall. Today, having read an article in the latest edition of The Marketer magazine, I'm astonished to discover that there really was a Captain Birdseye.

Well, I need to qualify that just a little.

There was a Mister Clarence Birdseye who invented the fish finger back in 1955. The avuncular, uniformed figure who dominated our TV screens for about thirty years may have been an invention of over-eager advertising creatives, but he didn't blow in on a trawler during a squall. There was actually some connection to a real human being.

These revelations about fish and yoghurt are causing me considerable disquiet, because I'm wondering how many other fictional people and places are, in fact, real. I'd be grateful if loyal readers could let me know.

Is Trumpton somewhere off the A21? Is Dr Dre practising medicine in Harley Street? I'll do some digging of my own and get back to you.

Comments

  1. Anonymous2:02 AM

    According to the ever-reliable Wikipedia, Dr Dre's name is a homage to his favourite basketball player, Julius "Dr. J" Erving. But I haven't the first clue about Trumpton.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike Hoffman5:00 PM

    Do you think this means that Mr Kipling really does exist? And is there really a laughing cow somewhere that produces cheese that tastes of putty?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Phil Woodford12:32 PM

    I don't know if Mr Kipling exists, Hoffy, but one thing's for sure. He does make exceedingly good cakes.

    ReplyDelete

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