Whale worship

Malc White writes to point out an oversight on the blog: there has been no mention of Whale worship: "Often when Mike the Whale would appear on the cutting there would be a cry of "Whale Worship!" and a dozen diggers would fall to their knees and chant

"Oh Great Whale,
Oh Great Whale,
Oh flatulent flatfish,
Oh farting flounder,
Give us a sign, oh fishy deity!"

To which Mike would invariably reply "Bugger off!"

I can't imagine why. What is more perturbing is trying to remember how this peculiar activity originated and why. The photo montage shows Mike at varying stages in the development of his cult: on the left in 1978, 1980 in the middle, and later in the 1980s perhaps 1981 on the right. Or maybe that's another 2 years' beard growth ...

The chant I had forgotten, but as soon as Malc sent it to me I knew he had it right, even if with the benefit of hindsight the zoological knowledge implied by the words is more than somewhat shaky.