Joanna Southcott's box was a feature of my childhood. One of my father's catchphrases was "open the box" (possibly not unrelated to the Take Your Pick show on TV with Michael Miles). Always had a soft spot for the Panacea Society. The world was supposed to end in 2004 so we are on borrowed time
Stake the bunny!
I love the EP Thompson quote: "I am seeking to rescue the poor stockinger, the Luddite cropper, the "obsolete" hand-loom weaver, the "utopian" artisan, and even the deluded follower of Joanna Southcott, from the enormous condescension of posterity." ( But remember Take Your Pick too!)
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It was Hill who wrote the definitive Muggletonian book, right?
AS: Did you know Michael Miles is dead?
He was born in 1919 so that is unsurprising
I was hoping you would say 'Yes' or No' 😇
LOL - to be honest I hadn't really thought about it till you asked and had to look up his dates on Wikipedia 😂
It's a very old joke, dating from the 1955 start of *Take Your Pick* on ITV. Urban myth has it that people turned up at Miles's 1971 funeral to shout 'Open the box!'. Whether this tasteless but funny legend is true has never been verified. @transdiffusion.org @htw.bsky.social @dirtyfeed.org
😳!!!