Prismatic Reflection

    “What Are Facts Behind Town Hall?” Yes, I just wonder what the facts are, if any at all! Well we’re told there is a Town Council, which is democratically elected every year. Democratically? That is what they claim. But it will not be long before democracy is abolished in the Village. Even at best democracy is terribly inefficient, an irritation the Village will dispense with. I’ve often wondered that might not be those so called “brainwashed imbeciles” that go to make up the members of the Town Council, be those former Number 2’s who have failed the Village Administration in some way? After all each member of the Town Council is a sub-divided Number 2.
    But who was it who asked the question “What are facts Behind Town Hall?” in the first place? The Editor of The Tally Ho? Our own reporter, or Number 113 who contributes to The Tally Ho? Mind you having written that, No.113 once interviewed Number 6 when he was standing for public office during the election for the position of Number 2. As I recall the interview never made it onto the front page of the newspaper. In fact the article which did appear on the front page, didn’t resemble what 113 wrote down in his notebook in any shape or form. And even if it had, there was no time to get it published. In fact No.113 was in fact making it up as he went along, in writing the answers to his own questions put to the candidate! So who had written the article headed ‘No.6 Speaks His Mind?’ It’s credited to our own reporter, whoever that is, it’s certainly not Number 113.
    What’s more the picture which accompanies the article ‘No.6 Speaks His Mind’ has Number 6 wearing ordinary clothes, of shirt and tie, and a jacket. The same picture used for the election placards, and the ’Vote for No.6’ placard. Not blue turtle neck sweater and piped blazer, his usual Village attire, as one might expect. And the same can be said of the picture of Number 2 that accompanies the headline ’Increase Vigilance Call from New No.2’ in ‘Hammer Into Anvil,’ which depicts Number 2 wearing a collar and tie, instead of a grey polo neck sweater. And finally when The Tally Ho reports Number 6 having been called up before the Committee the accompanying photograph has Number 6 wearing the suit he wears on the morning of his arrival in the Village!
     The Tally Ho newspaper is issued daily at noon. Except when it’s issued at 10.20 am in ‘It’s Your Funeral,’ and in ‘A Change of Mind there are two issues in the one day! It is also questionable just how much Village news there might be to justify a daily issue. Yes the newspaper is a one-sided single A2size sheet, but even so……perhaps the editor makes it up as he goes along, much like I’m doing with this particular Prismatic Reflection! And the newspaper carries no date, save for one issue, Feb 10^th.
    “Tally Ho” is of course a hunting call, which could be reflected in a newspaper which hunts for stories in the Village, yet is controlled by the Village Administration. A newspaper not quite telling it like it is, but being told to tell it how it is! Much in the same way the Soviet Union’s newspaper Pravda told the truth. While Izvestia a bulletin newspaper, told the news. But it was said about them, that there is no truth in news, and no news in truth.
    However the end of ‘the Prisoner’ series did not see the end of The Tally Ho. It did take several years for the newspaper to remerge, but when it did it had undergone a metamorphosis, having become a newspaper for Six of One: The Prisoner Appreciation Society, bringing society activity news to the membership, along with Prisoner based cartoon strips, and newspaper cuttings about ‘The Prisoner‘ and Portmeirion. Later to be reduced to provide a place for reproducing newspaper and magazine cuttings from the national press!
    A couple of issues did undergo a transformation, having been given the look of ‘The Sun’ Newspaper, and that of ‘The Independent’ newspaper, I never knew why. What’s more The Tally Ho as Six of One’s newspaper was not restricted to an A 2 size single double-sided sheet. At times it was as many as twenty pages, but that was when it was reduced to A3 size.
    In the early 1980’s The Tally Ho was produced as a ‘Prisoner’ based magazine in America. Today The Tally Ho has been adapted for the World Wide Web, but is still produced as a ‘Prisoner’ based newsletter produced by yours truly. It is of A4 size, and started out as a two page newsletter, but has grown to 30 pages per issue. The next issue being a 45^th anniversary special, both for ‘the Prisoner’ and The Tally Ho.

I’ll be seeing you