28 JANUARY 1955, Page 46

SPECTATOR COMPETITION No. 259 Set by Anthony Hyde

In the first Elizabethan era, popular bal- lads often fulfilled the function of present- day newspapers—e.g., a ballad on the Queen's speech at Tilbury (when the Armada was on its way) was written and printed in London on the following day. The usual prize is offered for the opening or concluding stanzas (limit: sixteen lines) of a Fleet Street ballad on one of the following: The Railwaymen's Complaint, Operation Snowdrop, Facts about Flying Saucers, The Shocking Fate of 396 Monkeys, or A Hydrogen Bomb Test at Hayling Island.

Entries, addressed 'Spectator Competition No. 259,' 99 Gower Street, London, W.C.1, must be received not later than February 8. Results in the Spectator of February 18.