A Rum OLE Norfolk Year

When author Keith Skipper started to keep a comprehensive daily diary just as 1984 dawned, he knew there must be room for smaller local items to spice up his pages and underline Norfolk’s well-deserved reputation for dewin’ diffrunt and then confusing the rest of the world even more by laughing at the results.

The general idea behind this book, his 40th off the Norfolk production line, is to salute the downright silly, acknowledge the outstanding achievers, bless those able to brighten the bleakest of days and congratulate all with a penchant for attracting publicity in the name of home-grown posterity.

There are a few recurring themes – such as loyal service to local communities and the changing face of country life – but these month-by-month selections from over 30 years of eavesdropping and jotting around his native patch tend to emphasise a natural passion for the mildly unbecoming or markedly unusual.

For example, the following pages reveal what were called “hideosities” by a local councillor, who had a pacemaker fitted at the age of 107, where it was planned to put horses into nappies, why a bride turned up for her wedding in a wheelbarrow and when Sherba, Lady Baa Baa and Ewesain Bolt caused a village flutter.