Saturday, 22 December 2018

Benny the beluga whale (London)



A beluga whale appeared in the Thames in September.  Theories abound as to what it was doing there, so far away from its natural habitat.  

Four months on, it’s still there.  A recent newspaper report says it looks like it’s decided to make the Thames “its playground”.

When it first appeared, people gave it the name of Benny (presumably to sort-of alliterate with “beluga”?).

BBC’s Radio 4 has a weekly current affairs quiz show, called The News Quiz, with celebrities making up the two teams.  They insert witty side comments, injecting light-heartedness into what would otherwise be a dry show, so it’s more an entertainment programme than a real test of the participants’ knowledge of the latest happenings.

The week Benny the beluga whale appeared in the Thames, this piece of news was, naturally, one of the items.

A male participant asked, “Why the name Benny?  How does one know it’s a male?”  A female participant’s immediate response was, “Because it got lost, but wouldn’t ask for directions!”

(London, 2018)

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