Game for a Daimler
with Dame Edna Everage
Hello readers, I tend to suspect those periwigged possums, Addison and Steele, would be Spinning in their caskets when they see the gorgeous cover of this week's Specky. But let's face it, possums — if this resonant, pivotal and increas- ingly popular periodical is an institution, then so am 1. And I've got a Spooky old feeling that Dame Nature, in her wisdom, meant this seminal marriage of mag. and megastar to be celebrated.
We all know the Specky is a bit of a Mould Breaker, challenging the Shibboleths of the Establishment (Scrabble players will know what I'm talking about); and this week Europe's most up-market radical magazine is blazing new trails by featuring on its cover an internationally acclaimed Australian actress and swami bouncing on the bonnet of a classic con- veyance.
In case you think your world is falling apart, don't panic, possums — one of Nick Garland's thoughtful and confrontative etchings will more than likely be back next week. Until then I'm giving my technicolour bless- ing to the Competition of a Lifetime. And so over the next few weeks, I have invited seven of my egghead intimates to pose their own special ques- tion.
My first cab off the rank: Malcolm Muggeridge.
Speaking as a woman with canonisation round the corner, I've always felt a lot in common with darling apple-cheeked Malcolm Muggeridge — one of my very special people. (I was only sorry that my schoolgirl Russian wasn't up to scratch when he interviewed Senor Solzhenitsyn or I could have squeezed myself between these two spunky old sages as interpreter.) It therefore gives me great pleasure now to hand over the mike to that raunchy old Roman of Robertsbridge — my Pal Mal! (See Question No.!) Don't panic, possums — my competition stretches over eight weeks — plenty of time to read the complete works of Blake. Questions coming in future weeks from Kingsley Amis, Jeff Bernard, Jo Grimond, Sir Alec Guinness, Michael Heath, Richard Ingrams and of course myself.
Question No. 1
Set by Malcolm Muggeridge
The poet William Blake is famous for his intuitive understanding of what is going to happen in the future. I am asking you to produce a quotation from his work which shows he foresaw the coming of television and its disastrous consequences.
Answer Form 1
Answer: Name Address Tick if student.
Keep this answer form — only send it in at the end of the competition.
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