This week, Frank introduces Louis N. Feipel, unparalleled pedant and the 'prince of proofreaders'... “Proofreading is for pussies!” So declared Bruce Willis, when he was taken to task for his misspelled and ungrammatical contributions to an online discussion forum some years ago. And those pussies have become an endangered species. Several national newspapers ... Read More...
Key’s Cupboard
The mind of Frank Key
Imagine you are a nocturnal traveller, lost, with only a map of the stars. You look from map to sky to map to sky to map to sky and try to correlate the two... The sky at night is darker than the sky during the day. You probably know why this ... Read More...
As Frank reveals, stand-up comedians have always played a vital role in British political decision-making... In his Dabbler Diary on Monday, Brit noted the delusion of contemporary “panel show comedians that they are public intellectuals, superior in their integrity and insight to the corrupt political class”. This widespread phenomenon leads the ... Read More...
As a tribute to Pete Seeger, who passed away this week, here's Frank's unforgettable tale, I Had a Hammer... I had a hammer. I hammered in the morning. I hammered in the evening all over this land. I hammered out danger. I hammered out a warning. I hammered out love between ... Read More...
In another exclusive extract from his new Dabbler Editions ebook, By Aerostat to Hooting Yard, Frank Key introduces us to the work of an unfairly neglected playwright... Prudence Foxglove was an unsung Victorian genius. Here is the opening scene from her play May The Light Of Our Saviour Beam Down Upon ... Read More...
Look out next week for the launch of By Aerostat to Hooting Yard: A Frank Key Reader, published by Dabbler Editions for the Kindle. The ebook contains 147 stories selected by nonsense aficionado Roland Clare, and is an ideal introduction for the newcomer and a handy 'best of' compendium for ... Read More...
Frank makes a ... well, a thing... Cardboard Adam stands hand in hand with cardboard Eve in front of a cardboard tree around which is twined a serpent of plasticine. Plasticine, too, are the fruits which hang from the cardboard branches of the tree. In truth, cardboard Adam and cardboard Eve ... Read More...
We are honoured once again to publish Old Key's Almanacke, a series of unerringly accurate (as you will see from the last edition) predictions for the coming twelvemonth... January : Police swoop on all living octogenarian light entertainers not yet arrested under Operation Yewtree. February : Twitcher spots corncrake through binoculars. March : ... Read More...
Are you sitting comfortably? Snuggle down by the fire with a mince pie and a glass of warm grog, as Frank Key brings you a festive tale... “Hearken ye, stooped mendicant at my gate! I am Good King Wenceslas, and I am looking out, and I can see you, poor and ... Read More...
The Dabbler apologises in advance for bringing you this frankly unforgivable story... The television presenter Adrian Chiles read the headline Porpoises rescue Dick Van Dyke and was consumed by jealousy. Ever since he was tiny, Chiles had hankered to feature in an exciting news story alongside sea creatures, and now his thunder ... Read More...
