Great Headlines of the World

by Kieran Healy on August 7, 2003

It’s not quite “McArthur Flies Back to Front,” but it shares something with “Headless Body in Topless Bar” and I just read it in the current issue of the ANU’s “On Campus” newsletter [pdf]:

bq. Former Head of John XXIII Remembered

The headline writer had room to clarify the meaning by inserting the word “College” between “XXIII” and “Remembered” but clearly did not want to spoil her chance to enliven one of the world’s duller publications.

This reminds me of the time on Ireland’s Nine O’Clock News when newsreader Ann Doyle asked someone whether they would best remember the late Cardinal Tomas O’Fiach as a man or a primate.

{ 4 comments }

1

James Russell 08.07.03 at 9:02 am

That’s beautiful. Wonder how John XXIII’s current head feels about the attention being given to its predecessor…

2

Chris Brooke 08.07.03 at 10:55 am

Or there’s the (presumably apocryphal) “Eighth Army Push Bottles Up Rommel’s Rear”.

3

MB 08.07.03 at 6:27 pm

I didn’t realise Worzel Gummidge had been leader of the Catholic Church. “Ooh aah! I gots me infallible ‘ead on t’day, Aunt Sally.”

4

Nabakov 08.08.03 at 7:57 am

Nice, one Chris B.

So that’s why they called him the “Desert Bottleopener”.

Comments on this entry are closed.