Thursday, June the 24th, 2004
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We are very excited to announce that, after weeks of negotiations, we have managed to persuade Little Severin, the Mystic Badger, to join the team here at Hooting Yard. (See Vaporetto Or Bus? 22nd June.) Little Severin will be foretelling the future for us on an occasional basis, in his usual manner of scrabbling around in the undergrowth, snapping twigs, and digging holes. As a special treat, here is a picture of Little Severin. If you click on the image, you will hear a sound file of him eating his delicious midnight snack of earthworms.
We are aware that when he had a regular spot on a radio show, Little Severin was subject to much criticism. Typical was this letter which appeared in the Pang Hill Weekly Psychic Supplement: “That badger has no more idea of the future than I do,” wrote a certain Anselm Earjug, “For example, last week he ‘predicted’ the sinking of the Titanic, Richard Milhous Nixon's ‘Checkers' speech, the popularity of the television series Love Boat, and Betsygate. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these things have already happened.” Of course, what Mr Earjug failed to realise is that Little Severin is that rare thing… a badger out of time!!!—like something from a Philip K Dick novel. That makes him all the more invaluable as a recruit to Hooting Yard, and if we receive any carping letters from readers, we will tear them to shreds and put them in a big wastepaper bin.
The sounds of Little Severin eating