"You are Lobby Ludd and I claim my five pounds."

[O2Trees]

Remember him? Ok, just a diversion - don't know why i suddenly thought about him - maybe talk of avatars recently

My folks used to read the News Chronicle which closed and was incorporated into the Daily Mail, so not sure which one used to have the lobby ludd challenge in it.

Did anyone here ever suss him and claim their reward?

[O2Trees]

Thanks for this flibberti - you inspired me to google lobby lud and I had had no idea that the £5 identity challenge started way back in 1923 according to wikipedia in the Westminster Gazette. £5 was worth over £200 then! Then when the Gazette closed, it moved to the Daily News, then News Chronicle. It was meant to boost summer's flagging newspaper sales. There's an interesting bit about Lobby Lud in popular culture which mentioned the character in Brighton Rock. Ive read this but don't remember it too well, and hadn't heard of Colley Cibber either so that link was interesting too.

Hope your health is improving flibberti, i was sad to see you have been so poorly.

[helingmic]

1927 they would give £5 if you could find Lobby Lud. I was not born!

You can always give me the fiver ! I see in the Wikipedia that it's worth £253 now!

[O2Trees in reply to helingmic]

Hmmm - i need my fivers, sorry helingmic! I s'pose it would have been worth around £100 in the fifties when I was looking in the paper? I remember from the tiny sliver of a pic that they gave you to go on, LL looked very shifty and unappealing. But i never lived by the sea. Now i do and it would be fun to look for him

[helingmic in reply to O2Trees]

I live by the sea too. The Thames, anyway! But it's too cold to see if there's any lost fiver on the pebbles!

[O2Trees in reply to helingmic]

or pieces of eight

[O2Trees]

Well at least you can dodge the C.diff and MRSA at home. Sorry its so hard at present though - i do hope you improve quickly. £253 would help . . .