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| An Essex 'lion' comes to the rescue of a dismal silly season | An Essex 'lion' comes to the rescue of a dismal silly season |
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One lion does not a silly season make, but thank goodness for the creature probably not on the prowl in Essex. Without more stories like this, the summer of 2012 may go down as one of the driest silly seasons since records began. | One lion does not a silly season make, but thank goodness for the creature probably not on the prowl in Essex. Without more stories like this, the summer of 2012 may go down as one of the driest silly seasons since records began. |
| For fans of silliness, the past couple of summers have been a write-off. This year, we've been treated to lots of positive coverage around the London Olympics. Last summer, reports of ugly riots breaking out in our cities rightly dominated the news. | For fans of silliness, the past couple of summers have been a write-off. This year, we've been treated to lots of positive coverage around the London Olympics. Last summer, reports of ugly riots breaking out in our cities rightly dominated the news. |
| August has traditionally been a slow month, as parliament is in recess and the flow of hard news from policymakers eases off. With our leaders on holiday and little proper news to report, circulation figures would slump. In response, media bosses would put pressure on newsrooms to churn out inconsequential, funny and oddball stories to keep readers entertained. Classic examples spring to mind: a slice of toast with Jesus' image on it, a constellation shaped like Victor Meldrew's face – that kind of thing. | August has traditionally been a slow month, as parliament is in recess and the flow of hard news from policymakers eases off. With our leaders on holiday and little proper news to report, circulation figures would slump. In response, media bosses would put pressure on newsrooms to churn out inconsequential, funny and oddball stories to keep readers entertained. Classic examples spring to mind: a slice of toast with Jesus' image on it, a constellation shaped like Victor Meldrew's face – that kind of thing. |
| But journalists know that great stories like these are a rarity and if they are to survive the silly season, they need to be incredibly ingenious and resourceful, or, failing that, they could just look for more stories that tap into the British public's love of an animal related news story. Whether it's the Essex lion, psychic octopuses, runaway cows, nearly dead donkeys or an angler taking a huge carp out of the water, no summer is complete without a lightweight, yet captivating, animal tale. | But journalists know that great stories like these are a rarity and if they are to survive the silly season, they need to be incredibly ingenious and resourceful, or, failing that, they could just look for more stories that tap into the British public's love of an animal related news story. Whether it's the Essex lion, psychic octopuses, runaway cows, nearly dead donkeys or an angler taking a huge carp out of the water, no summer is complete without a lightweight, yet captivating, animal tale. |
| Newspapers have turned the silly season in to a sport, trying to outdo each other by standing up the most unlikely stories using quite shaky facts. Who could forget October 2005 – the silly season spilled over long into the football season that year – when the South London Press helped start a media scramble with its tale about squirrels digging up crack cocaine hidden by drug dealers in Brixton. | |
| If rodents going nuts on Class A drugs weren't enough to make the us spill our morning coffee, then an imminent disaster, packed full of spurious science, almost did. In 1995, we were warned about a killer comet from outer space that was about to crash down on us. Obviously, the catastrophic collision never happened and the story burned out. | If rodents going nuts on Class A drugs weren't enough to make the us spill our morning coffee, then an imminent disaster, packed full of spurious science, almost did. In 1995, we were warned about a killer comet from outer space that was about to crash down on us. Obviously, the catastrophic collision never happened and the story burned out. |
| But while we gobble up the delicious prattle about silliness in our newspapers, you can't blame our politicians for feeling that they've escaped press scrutiny in the traditionally quiet month of August. However, things have changed. Even in the summer of 2005, spare column inches were found to assess John Prescott's performance as he filled in for Tony Blair, and, more importantly, if the deputy PM really wore a hairpiece, a claim quickly shot down by one of his aides. | But while we gobble up the delicious prattle about silliness in our newspapers, you can't blame our politicians for feeling that they've escaped press scrutiny in the traditionally quiet month of August. However, things have changed. Even in the summer of 2005, spare column inches were found to assess John Prescott's performance as he filled in for Tony Blair, and, more importantly, if the deputy PM really wore a hairpiece, a claim quickly shot down by one of his aides. |
| And being abroad doesn't guarantee you a moments peace either, as David Cameron found out in 2009, when the Daily Mirror ran a story about him being "stalked by killer slime". Which is to say that some gas given off by seaweed killed a horse somewhere near Cameron's unknown French holiday destination. Needless to say, the Conservative leader survived. | And being abroad doesn't guarantee you a moments peace either, as David Cameron found out in 2009, when the Daily Mirror ran a story about him being "stalked by killer slime". Which is to say that some gas given off by seaweed killed a horse somewhere near Cameron's unknown French holiday destination. Needless to say, the Conservative leader survived. |
| With the dog days of summer almost behind us now and parliament soon to reconvene, the silly season of 2012 has little chance of being a great vintage. But could this innocent British tradition be on it's way out anyway, certainly it's been ailing for some time – with a 24/7 news cycle now the norm, sombre news is already sharing space with "typical" silly-season stories. One suspects that if the silly season is to survive, then it will only do so because journalists like tradition and they will try to cling on to it. Let's hope they do. | With the dog days of summer almost behind us now and parliament soon to reconvene, the silly season of 2012 has little chance of being a great vintage. But could this innocent British tradition be on it's way out anyway, certainly it's been ailing for some time – with a 24/7 news cycle now the norm, sombre news is already sharing space with "typical" silly-season stories. One suspects that if the silly season is to survive, then it will only do so because journalists like tradition and they will try to cling on to it. Let's hope they do. |