Great bore of the week

Great Bores of Today was a long-running cartoon in Private Eye.

It was created by Michael Heath who provided the illustration while other contributors supplied the text.

Great Bores were highly opinionated and delivered their thoughts in the form of a rambling, rather breathless, commentary. (There was never any punctuation.)

I was reminded of Heath’s invention when I received this unsolicited email the other day. I reproduce it below, unedited:

Hi, just heard simon clark earlier this week talking to graham liver on bbc radio morning programme....what a load of clap trap he went on about...I lost my dad a few years ago, he was in the royal blackburn hospital, I got a call at 3 am to ask me to go up with my mum..out side it was freeing and there was a guy in a pyjama top only, with his arm connected to a drip on a trolley, drinking from a can of lager and smoking away freely in a non smoking part of the hospital..he was there for app. 1 hour whilst we were with my dad on the ward...when we left he was just going back to his ward, nor right hygenic taking a drip back to a ward from outside, stinking of smoke and drink...there are staff doing this dirty habit even on hospital grounds, I WOULD NOT EVEN TREAT ANY 1 WHO SMOKES for any health condition connected to smoking, ide ust leave em and let them cough there guts up in agony...it would save the health service billions of pounds every year....I got told that you didn't smoke ure self, I don't know how true this is ..non of my family have this dirty disgusting habit that you defend as ok...you sound a sad little old man to me...I bet even staff at ure place smoke in places at work they aren't ment to do ? look forward to ure reply, graham.non smoker...

Nurse!