Herefordshire Privies

by Paddy Ariss

(Countryside Books, £7.95)

THIS is not just some bog standard work by an author in the first flush of youth.

Ooh no, missus. In fact, Eardisland resident, Paddy Ariss, has had a varied career as a writer of short stories, magazine articles and children's tales. But in this, her latest work, she has turned an epic of antique loos into something of a khasi-celebre.

Paddy leads us gently up the garden path at midnight into a lost world frequented by such characters as Stingo Bill, whose picture - incidentally - still hangs in the New Inn at Pembridge, near Leominster.

Stingo had a habit of visiting his privy after a heavy night on the ale and singing at the top of his voice. This annoyed Stingo's brother Bob so much that a drastic solution was employed to silence the erring toilet titwillow. Drastic to be sure. It certainly made my eyes smart...

Moving on to the chamberpots department, there is the engaging tale of the cuckolded wife who emptied the contents of one such receptacle over the rival for her affections. Here was one Herefordshire strumpet who certainly didn't come up smelling of roses.

Enough. We will stop there, in the name of decorum, with these few tasters from this odd and entertaining collection. For whether we like it or not, lavatorial humour has for long been the bedpan, sorry bedrock, of a certain strand of British humour. And Paddy has done a great job!

John Phillpott