Wot a Gent

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Guest

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Fer the general information of the unwashed out there, I am happy to say I am in receipt of a cheque from Mr Maxey aka jfm for an amount somewhat in excess of his offer price for the VHF. So wot a Gent he is. I will (through the Lodge) be adding more to this, and delivering the whole to the RNLI (either head office or the Mudeford Station, as it's my local).

Kim, does the mag wanna try and get some publicity out of this? Raymarine? Can you (IPC) help get some publicity/coverage from local rags etc?
 
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Re: will there be...

sorry, John's probably already got a card through the door saying DHL tried to deliver but nobody was home...
 

jfm

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GW = Gent, JFM = punter

Thanks Graham. But hey I got a VHF (that I needed anyway)at less than RRP, and an opportunity to part-fix my guilt conscience for never giving enough to RNLI anyway. Credit goes to you for putting it up for auction in the first place. Anyway, whatever, it's good that RNLI have benefitted!
 
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Re: Giant cheque?

It won't get in the mag unless the cheque is 10x5 feet. I have not had to cash one of these, thankfully.
 

jfm

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Trivia learned for banking/finace exams

Some one did that once. According to the Cheques Act (1957?) a ch merely has to be in writing and a "sum certain in money to a specified person bla bla". So some bloke who was pissed with his bank wrote cheque on the side of a cow, then they walked it in, and bank had to cash it. Was a famous case, so famous I've forgotten the name. This was b4 the days of BSE of course, would be much too risky now. Since then sadly the t's and c's of most bank accounts say you gotta use their approved cheques

Good idea for MrB to arrange this for Pauline. Stop her buying shoes ("Sorry, no, I can't buy those my cheque book's being milked")
 
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Re: ...tosh, sadly

Claim: Someone once wrote a check on the side of a cow, and the bovine check was accepted and cashed by the bank.

Status: False.

Origins: This story is so widespread that major banks reportedly make reference to it in pamphlets given out to new depositors (as an example of some of the unusual things people have used as checks). Nonetheless, it's a completely fabricated tale, and it springs straight from the adventures of one Albert Haddock, the fictitious and fanciful creation of British writer A.P. Herbert.

Herbert's book Uncommon Law was first published in 1935. Herbert himself was called to the English Bar but never practiced, choosing another career path instead. He was a regular contributor to Punch for more than fifty years and the author of eight novels. He became a member of Parliament in 1935 and fought successfully for the reform of many licensing, divorce, and obscenity laws.
Okay, now you know a bit about the author. As for his wondrous creation, Albert Haddock, here's a bit from the introduction to Uncommon Law:

Albert Haddock made his first public appearance in Punch about 1924. I have always understood that I invented him, but he has made some disturbing escapes into real life. The first of the first series of Misleading Cases shown by the BBC on television in 1967 was No. 32 "Board of Inland Revenue v. Haddock" where Haddock, in payment of income tax, made out a cheque on a cow and led it to the office of the Collector of Taxes. Some weeks later I received a spacious cutting from an American newspaper (the Memphis Press-Scimitar) headed:

A CHECK CAN BE WRITTEN ON A COW
The article made not the slightest reference to me, my work, or the BBC, but used as news all Haddock's arguments and opinions on unconventional cheques. Halfway through, it suddenly claimed the authority of the Chase Manhattan Bank for the particular case of the cow: 'In the 19th century an Englishman named Albert Haddock got mad at the local tax collector over his bill and conceived a most ingenious idea for getting even.' Then followed the whole story. 19th century indeed!
To put it in easier-to-understand order, Haddock wasn't a real person any more than Sherlock Holmes was. A.P. Herbert loved writing about the law, so he created Haddock as an ongoing character on whom he could hang his fanciful stories. The BBC's Misleading Cases likely used this one of Herbert's tales as a humor piece and then the Memphis Press-Scimitar picked up on it, didn't get the joke, and presented it as something that really happened. Not content to leave well enough alone, the Memphis Press-Scimitar threw in the bit about the Chase-Manhattan Bank to lend an extra bit of believability to the tale.
One wonders how many cattle have been led into the Chase-Manhattan Bank over the years thanks to the Memphis Press-Scimitar's gullibility.


Update: In 1990 the British magazine Punch presented A.P. Herbert with a cheque for £5 written on the side of a cow. This publicity stunt was arranged ahead of time, with the bank's cooperation sought and secured and the cow insured for £25,000 in case she ran amok and caused injury (as well as an additional £150 in case she caused injury to herself). Contrary to the belief that banks have to accept cheques written on anything (including a cow), Herbert's own bank refused to participate in the stunt, forcing him to choose another financial institution. After being cashed, the cow was duly returned to her farm.

Last updated: 31 December 1998

The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/cowcheck.htm
 
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Re: Lodge Goat

Careful. Our flat overlooks your handshake gang HQ. I hope they've got a good-looking goat anyway.
 
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Re: Lodge Goat

Oh, I expect GQS has a grade A pedigree goat. We meet out in rural Berkshire, and we gotta make do with wot we can.
 

jfm

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I stand, erm shrivel, corrected

I stand corrected and about 3cm tall. But erm I did get the species right, I mean you agreed it was a cow. I think she was called Daisy, as well

Hey, here's an idea. Next time anyone posts an amazing (or not fact, or alleged fact), you have to comment WITHOUT being allowed to use a search engine, right? ;-)
 
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Re: GQS?

Grandmaster Quacking Sillyhandshakers? oops no just realised Gt Queen Street. Anyway, more choice, very wise.
 
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Re: New rules

Mind, you, I did leave source doc in full

Anyway, from now on, all advice and info hereabouts to be provided on a Consultancy Basis. So any old rubbish is fine, research positively discouraged. Jfm to set the rates.
 
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Re: GQS?

Dammit, an outsider has penetrated on of our secret TLAs. Now he knows the location of our secret headquarters, he'll probably be watching for the swimming pool sliding back on the roof and the palm trees folding back...
 

jfm

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Re: New rules - rate card

Agreed. Rates are as follows, in £ per hour

Rag stick consultancy by motorboaters £800
Rag stick consultancy by rag stickers £0 (fair value)
Motor consultancy by motorboaters, staple diet, £600
Discounted rate for new user advice £300
Penalty for misadvice or over-use of internet = x20 refund

I shall monitor weekly, do massive spreadsheets on fag packets and advise who has earned what fees, and who owes what, on Jan 11th

There's no VAT becuase everything is cash in hand, I checked with my builder
 
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Re: Trivia learned for banking/finace exams

I never did know. Did they have to put a tuppeny stamp on the cow?
 
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