FOOTNOTE
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On the subject of the Prophets of Doom:

Beyond The Fringe  - “The End of the World” (Starring Peter Cook)

A prophet (Cook) and his followers are gathered on a hillside to await the promised apolocalype

FIRST FOLLOWER: How will it be this end of which you have spoken, Brother Enim?
ALL: Yes, how will it be?
PROPHET: Well, it will be as twere a mighty rending in the sky, and the mountains will sink, and the valleys will rise and great will be the tumult thereof.
FIRST FOLLOWER: Will the vale of the temple be rent in twain?
PROPHET: It will be rent in twain about two minutes before we see the manifest flying beast head in the sky.
SECOND FOLLOWER: And will there be a mighty wind?
PROPHET: Certainly there will be a mighty wind, if the word of God is anything to go by.
THIRD FOLLOWER: And will this wind be so mighty as to lay low the mountains of the earth?
PROPHET: No. It will not be quite as mighty as that. That is why we have come up on the mountain, you stupid nit - to be safe from it.
FIRST FOLLOWER: All right then - when will it be?
ALL: Ah, when will it be?
PROPHET: In about thirty seconds’ time, according to the ancient pyramidic scrolls.
FIRST FOLLOWER: Shall we compose ourselves then?
PROPHET: Good plan. Prepare for the end of the world. Fifteen Seconds!
THIRD FOLLOWER: Here, have you got the picnic basket?
SECOND FOLLOWER: Yes.
PROPHET: Five, four, three, two, one, zero!
ALL: Now is the end, perish the world!

The world noticably fails to end. There is an embarressed pause.

PROPHET:  It was GMT, wasn’t it?
FIRST FOLLOWER: Yes.
PROPHET: Well, it’s not quite the conflagration we’d been banking on…Never mind, lads, same time tomorrow, we must get a winner one day.

(Text taken from Tragically I was an Only Twin - The Complete Peter Cook [Edited by William Cook] (Arrow Books, 2003) p.50)

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