Many thanks to Mike Wilson, from Yorkshire in the UK, for sending in this story.
Says Mike: “After I had officially retired, I occasionally typeset material for local printers as I had a Macintosh computer at home.
One of my clients was Yorkshire Ridings magazine, at that time produced in Driffield by a former Driffield Times editor, Winston Halstead.
I enjoyed the work and I once received the copy – that’s the bare words – for several advertisements.
After creating the ads, I read them through for accuracy, printed them and the took the bus to Driffield. I handed them over and caught a bus home.
Some days later, my telephone rang. After I gave my name, the voice at the other end said: “Mike?” in that tone similar to a child who has something to confess to his father and says: “Dad?” where the voice dips in the middle and back up again. You hear your name this way and you know something is wrong.
I replied, “Yes?” in the same manner.
The voice then asked if I remembered the adverts I had set some days earlier. Of course I did. I wondered what was coming next.
“Well?” he said, in that querying tone.
“Yes?” I replied in the same way.
“Well, one of them had a mistake in it.”
“Oh, I am sorry about that. I hope you sent the client a proof.”
“Oh, yes, we did. We always do.”
“Good,” I said, because that meant the responsibility for the accuracy of his advert was now his, and not mine, although I had made the original error.
“Ah, but . . .”the voice continued.
I shuddered. What was coming now?
“He passed the ad, but didn’t tell us about the mistake. He sent the printed advert from the magazine to a national newspaper and they reprinted it, as it made them laugh.”
Good grief, I thought. What did the advert say? What had I done?
The Falcon Inn
Then Winston read out the advert for me: “The Falcon Inn, Whitby Road, Cloughton, near Scarborough. North York Moors National Park. Luxury Home Comfort in fabulous countryside. Bar Snacks and Lunches served every day. Sunday Lunch in Carvery Restaurant (booing advisable). En-suite bedrooms available in delightful courtyard setting. Phone 0723 870717 for colour brochure or booking.”
I hope you spotted the error. It was humorous. “Booing advised.”
I am looking at the advert now. I kept a copy. It was published in the June/July 1994 edition of Yorkshire Ridings Magazine.
That’s over twenty years ago, as I type this page! And I can still remember that phone call and the memory makes me flinch.
If you liked this story you may also like Printers’ Tales a compilation of similar stories, available in ebook and paperback formats.