6 FEBRUARY 1959, Page 8

A FORMER London editor of the Manchester Guardian used to

say that his favourite headline, which he claimed to have seen in an evening paper, was:

ALLEGED WEST-END CLUBMAN'S FATAL FALL OVER CAT

preferring it to his own paper's :

TANGIBLE MEMORIAL TO GEORGE ELIOT IN ROTHERHAM ?

which has been much prized by collectors, who think highly of the question-mark. Neither, it seems to me, has the evocative charm implicit in this, which appeared in a recent Guardian:

MAN SPEAKING LITTLE ENGLISH LOST WITH FIVE UNFED REARS

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