network news: where's wally? 1 2 3 4

The Stonehenge Free Festival became a regular event around the time of the Summer Solstice and attracted many more people until 1985, when as part of a general offensive against working class self-organisation police roadblocks were set up prevent the festival happening anywhere near Stonehenge(11). To this day there is a general ban on gatherings taking place anywhere near Stonehenge around the Summer Solstice, and police roadblocks are set up throughout Wiltshire every June. totally wired
Happy Hippies Celebrate the Summer Solstice
photo by Nigel Ayers

So we have seen how the meaning of the name Wally has changed since 1969, as different factions have attempted to use the name and the death of at least one person who used it, to their own ideological ends. From mysterious beginnings at some dimly remembered festival, Wally has since become a hippie martyr, a conspiracy theory, a name for a stupid person, and a commercial cartoon series for children.

We look forward to equally bizarre developments for Luther Blissett.

NOTES

1. Zorch-A band named after the sound made by the molten plastic dripping from a burning plastic milk crate hanging from a tree.


2. Wally alternatively stands for Wessex Anarchist Libertarian League of Youth. In old English, wally meant `foreigner', `stranger' or `Celt' i.e. the term `Cornwall' meaning `land of the Cornish foreigners' and `Wales' (meaning foreigners).

3. The word `Emmett' means `tourist' in 20th century Cornish. Grogan means 'hairy' in Gaelic. So Emmett Grogan means `hairy tourist'.
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4. Russell was set to inherit his family's fortune at the age of 30. His guardian was the former BBC broadcaster, John Snagge.

5. It turns out that it was Penny Rimbaud who brought Russell's ashes to Stonehenge. Rimbaud knew Phil Russell because he had grown up near the long established Crass commune in Epping. There was no other contact between Crass and the Wally camp.


6. The Wally character's dog is called 'Woof', this would indicate the influence of the Wessex Wally dog known as Wally Woof.


7. A particular type of tourist though; the 3 fingers indicates he is a member of the Triads and the cane would indicate the Joseph Beuys brand of Fluxus-Shamanism.

8. Shiva is, in fact, better known as a male deity, with a female partner known as Shakti
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9. Penny Rimbaud is, in fact, male.


10. C J Stone mentions the dead body of another former Wally found tied to a tree with a joint in his mouth.


11. A peaceable advance party of travellers had the shit kicked out of them and vehicles trashed in the famous Battle of the Beanfield. Meanwhile there were other roadblocks up and down the country to prevent movement of supporters of the great Miners' Strike. The 1985 Stonehenge Festival happened on a hill overlooking an ancient White Horse chalk figure which could be seen for some miles away. The Horse's Eye was temporarily decorated with a Huge Smiley and some of the earliest reported `crop circles' appeared in a nearby field.

REFERENCES

ANON. (1974) `Everyone's Wally' Maya 1, September
CHIPPENDALE, C (1983) Stonehenge Complete Thames and Hudson, London
GOODWIN, N (1995 'Wally Hope - a victim of ignorance' Squall Autumn
GROGAN, E. (1972) Ringolevio - A Life Played for Keeps Panther, St.Albans
HANDFORD, M. (1990) Where's Wally? The Ultimate Fun Book Walker Books, London
HOME, S (1995) Neoism, Plagiarism and Praxis AK Press, Edinburgh
HOWARD, P. (1974) The Times, August l3th, 1974
MANNING, P (1983) How to be a Wally Futura Publications, London
MICHELL, J. (1985) Stonehenge - Its Druids, Custodians, Festival and Future Radical Traditionalist Papers, London
RICHTER, H. (1965) Dada Art and Anti-Art Thames and Hudson, London
RIMBAUD, P (1982) 'The last of the hippies' in A Series of Shock Slogans and Mindless Token Tantrums Exitstencil Press, London
STONE, C.J. (1996) 'The Martyr of Stonehenge' in The Big Issue 176 April 8th-l3th
STONE, C.J. (1996)Fierce Dancing Faber and Faber, London
STRATTON-KENT, E. (1988) 'Wally Hope: a morality play in six acts' Occulture 1
also information available from:
STONEHENGE CAMPAIGN, 99 Toriano Avenue, London, NW5 2RX

First published in Transgressions No 2/3 available from:
Salamander Press (London) Ltd, 84 White Horse Road, London E1 0ND, England


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