REAL OR HARDLY

Some things are so beyond parody that you want to imitate them in a loving homage. And once you've done that, you want to put them all up on the internet and let people try to guess which is which.

the love, courtship and marriage timewarp teaser

They had funny ideas about love in the 1960s, that's for sure! But can you distinguish the genuine passages from my authentic manual of love from what I wrote to be like it?

Timewarp Teaser Page

the trevor swain memorial challenge

Trevor Swain wrote three letters over a period of months to our barmaid before falling off a bus and dying. Here is the third and least coherent, and my plucky imposter! Can you distinguish the real from the - well, hardly?

Letter One | Letter Two | Answer

the gaydar triple switch profile enigma

Gaydar is a website where highly charged gentlemen congregate to wave their chapel hat pegs at each other. However, can you spot which profile was genuinely placed on the internet in a misguided attempt to attract people?

Profile One | Profile Two | Profile Three | Answer

bonus real-life party game : gaydar yahtzee!

You can also download and play this antique parchment that I found in a dusty old box in my attic. Conveniently enough, I found it in pdf format. You don't have to be gay to play gaydar yahtzee - but it obviously makes it a lot easier to suggest.

next : the audio personals "crying shame" superquiz

Of four telephone personal ads, can you suss which are genuine cries for help, and which are monstrously unfeeling parodies?