queen revokes US declaration of independence, redux...

keli, who has this really great embryo of a really great blog but which has been comatose since Feb 2005, said this:

Er.. sorry to disillusion you guys, but this story was NOT written by John Cleese. It was actually written by a guy called Alan Baxter of Rochester, U.K, in 2000 and has since spawned a zillion different versions...

here, read this footnote to a version just published on utterpants.co.uk:

Editorial note: This story is loosely based on a satirical letter which exists in various versions, both on and offline, which has now passed into Internet folklore. Despite claims that it was authored by British comedian John Cleese in 2000, it was apparently originally penned by Alan Baxter, from the UK, who posted a very much shorter version than ours to an internal newsgroup hosted by his employer in November 2000. The story is thought to have subsequently escaped into the wild when Peter Rieden, also from the UK., extended it and posted it to a USENET newsgroup. Thereafter, the story quickly spread far and wide, and within days newspapers in the UK were running even longer versions. Our version differs significantly from most others in circulation in not itemising the Queen's demands and in being written as a news story. So, whilst many people have undoubtedly had a hand in shaping the many variations of this humorous lampoon which now exist, John Cleese is almost certainly not one of them—unless you know differentt!

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So there you have it.
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