Will the real 'Mr Blackpool' please stand up?
Here at Cleveleys News we like to keep up with our competition by reading nearby Blackpool publication The Evening Gazette. Despite their frequent gaffes, typographical errors, poorly formatted photographs, amateurish writing, non-stories and shameless plugs for local businesses they can still be quite charming and entertaining in their own way. And you never know - with a bit of hard work they may even one day progress beyond amateur journalism and become a professional media outlet like Cleveleys News.
While perusing their online edition this week we were genuinely saddened to read of the recent death of a local entertainer known to his fans as 'Mr Blackpool'. We were doubly saddened but also slightly baffled when two days later we read their coverage of the funeral of an entirely different person – a former Gazette photographer – also dubbed 'Mr Blackpool'.
Here they both are:
It did make us curious – just how many Mr Blackpools are there?
Turns out there are quite a few.
In just the past few years alone the Evening Gazette has reported on at least eight different local characters who either claim to have been known by the name, or whom the Gazette have dubbed 'Mr Blackpool'.
Here are some we found in their archives:
To the best of our knowledge nobody has ever styled themselves as 'Mr Cleveleys'; not even people who are actually called Mr Cleveleys by birth. We have a few theories as to why there may be a disproportionately high number of claims to this moniker. One theory is that 'Mr Blackpool' may be regenerating, a bit like Doctor Who. Another explanation is that Blackpool is full of delusional people with the fantastical belief that they are so famous they embody the town. The most plausible explanation we could come up with is that the Gazette relies on lazy journalism and hackneyed phrases.
Our thoughts are with those that have recently lost a Mr Blackpool (any of them) and those that remain can take comfort in the fact that it is statistically unlikely we will lose more than two in a week. Although if we do, at least they will be guaranteed an obituary in the Gazette.
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While perusing their online edition this week we were genuinely saddened to read of the recent death of a local entertainer known to his fans as 'Mr Blackpool'. We were doubly saddened but also slightly baffled when two days later we read their coverage of the funeral of an entirely different person – a former Gazette photographer – also dubbed 'Mr Blackpool'.
Here they both are:
 |
| Peter Emmett - "Mr Blackpool" |
 | |
| Mike Rossi - "Mr Blackpool" |
Turns out there are quite a few.
In just the past few years alone the Evening Gazette has reported on at least eight different local characters who either claim to have been known by the name, or whom the Gazette have dubbed 'Mr Blackpool'.
Here are some we found in their archives:
To the best of our knowledge nobody has ever styled themselves as 'Mr Cleveleys'; not even people who are actually called Mr Cleveleys by birth. We have a few theories as to why there may be a disproportionately high number of claims to this moniker. One theory is that 'Mr Blackpool' may be regenerating, a bit like Doctor Who. Another explanation is that Blackpool is full of delusional people with the fantastical belief that they are so famous they embody the town. The most plausible explanation we could come up with is that the Gazette relies on lazy journalism and hackneyed phrases.
Our thoughts are with those that have recently lost a Mr Blackpool (any of them) and those that remain can take comfort in the fact that it is statistically unlikely we will lose more than two in a week. Although if we do, at least they will be guaranteed an obituary in the Gazette.
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