Boggis

I have been troubled by the name Boggis for some time.
I had grown used to the fact that, in Hackney, small children would walk past me, in the winter especially when I allowed my beard to grow, and mutter
"...it is init, Father Christmas?"
However, when I walked into, one, of our locals in Suffolk and ordered a pint of bitter there was a silence and some sniggering and the telling phrase; -
"it is 'im init?"

'im was Boggis - who, allegedly, had done something to the coastline which was regarded by God, the established church and the planning authorities as unnatural.

I never ventured further. I have a delicate constitution and suffer as you know from extreme paranoia and nervous dyspepsia.

Now, any wavering faith in the name Boggis has been dispelled by the excellent and highly commendable John Boggis QC, I noticed in the Grauniad.

He is reported as dismissing a prosecution for theft brought by DEFRA against a Ms Tree-Hillman for ".. brown chantrelles worth £28"

How so,when the aforemetioned dam was caught yellow handed, as it were?

The case was, according to the Grauniad, dismissed on the grounds of pettiness as Boggis claimed he was there to try muggers and drug dealers not ladies who pick mushrooms!

The article, by Peter Marren, points to other aspects of fungal cropping on an idustrial scale which may cause problems, but it does reassure me that there is good in Boggis!