PRACTICAL JOKER

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 59, 28 July 1947, Page 8

PRACTICAL JOKER

“WANTED: CIGARETTE BUTTS” REACTION TO DALTON’S BUDGET Hawk-eyed men of the Revenue Department, spotting an advertisement at Padiham, England, appealing for “any quantity of cigarette ends at reasonable prices,” considered themselves on the track of a new racket inspired by the Dalton Budget.

Inquiries near Burnley were made to trace the man who called himself Gasper Dean, of Northtown, Padiham, and advertised: “Cigarette ends wanted by well known Padiham business man. Reasonable prices offered. Please arrange delivery after 6 p.m.”

The advertisement as the name implies, is a hoax. The man who inspired it, a Padiham business man, is Mr Walter Moore, electrician, self-confessed practical joker. “If you can’t have a bit of fun these days what can you have?” asked Mr Moore. “It was a skit on the Budget. As a non-smoker I have no use for cigarettes or cigarette ends. “One or two of us here have a bit of fun occasionally. There was the time when we advertised the Padihamwater ‘otter. Hundreds turned up to see it. It was merely a hotwater bottle. “Then was the time when a tram was reported to have jumped over the bridge here. Hundreds came to see that. They even looked on the underside of the bridge for it. “I had to close the shop three days after we advertised a new method of charging worn-out dry batteries.”