Saturday 16 February 2008

LOOKING AT CAPTIONS

At LAST! The results of the...

CAPTION COMPETITION

This, you will remember, was the photograph for which captions were being sought...


Considerable invention and ingenuity were exhibited in the entries to this competition, with several intriguing similarities of thought and theme between them.

For example, BOLL WEAVIL submitted…

“Did you ever pay the window cleaner? I don't think he came back yesterday morning.”

...while SACRA CANTERO wrote:

The Old Bank Hotel, in Oxford, has employed the services of a ghost as part of their offer of comfort and rest to clients. Mandy, the ghost, was employed at the building at the 19th century for cleaning windows, she has quoted as saying that she is very satisfied with her new occupation. Visitors to the hotel like Mr Sibley and Mr Weeks say to us: “We enjoy very much our visits to Oxford now, the hotel has had a great idea. It is always good to stimulate the activity of the heart with small surprises.”

Staying with the theme of ghosts, LISAH offered:

“I am the Ghost of Oxford past. Can you write me into one of your plays, Brian?”


...which (with its nod to my recent stage version of A Christmas Carol) was one of several personally tailored captions. Others included this from GILL

The head is saying: “Brian! David! Who do you think you are staring at? Put that camera away immediately!” (She may be a distant relative of the Duchess!)

...and this acutely-accurate proposal from BOLL WEAVIL

“Well, Mr Sibley, I'm pleased to say I've found a small space behind the chimney where there's still room to put a few more books.”

Other entries were concerned with directions, as in BOLL’s suggestion:

“Excuse me, did you say first or second on the left for the gents?”


...and SUZANNE’s delightfully fanciful entry:

“Third door on the left… Third door on the left… call them instructions? My stilts are killing me!”

...which, in turn, has something in common with one of DAVID WEEK’s more bizarre entries:

Edith’s newly-heeled high-heeled shoes were just plain ridiculous. She determined that words were going to be had next time she passed the cobblers.

Literary sources were in evidence, inspiring BOLL’s…

“This is absolutely the last time I stay at Wuthering Heights. This place gives me the creeps.”

...and DAVID WEEKS’ charming fairy-tale suggestion:

Rapunzel contemplates a new abode.

DAVID’s other suggestions were…

“I was distinctly told that it would be a Looking-glass, not a bleedin' window!”

and…

“I can see in but I can't see a way to get in.”

All of which brings me to the WINNING ENTRY, which, on this occasion, is from BENTOS and which wins because it has such a splendid touch of the strange, mysterious and other-worldly bout it…

"It looks like some kind of window," Sarah thought to herself in wonder, "a window from our Blue world into a Beige one!"

Well done BENTOS and thanks to everyone for entering!

6 comments:

David Weeks said...

Well done Bentos!
A worthy winner indeed.

Boll Weavil said...

A good standard of entries from, what I thought, was quite a difficult picture to caption.Lets have another one soon !

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Bentos, enjoy your prize, a trip to Venice!!

Brian Sibley said...

It's far too cold in Venice at this time of the year...

Anonymous said...

Well Brian, I suppose that Bentos have no objection for other destination, Greece perhaps, don`t you think so?

Bentos said...

WOOP!! Greece here I come!

You can't beat a cartoonist when it comes to captions, it's one of the classic blunders. The first is never get involved with a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well known...