Strange how word spreads. NSS has received a letter from Blackpool Pleasure Beach (BPB) boasting that their Alice in Wonderland ride is clad in real Portland stone.

BPB managing director Geoffrey Thompson writes: The whole south portico affair appears to be a travesty administered by a Mock Turtle. Somebody somewhere should be crying \'off with their heads\'. I\'m pleased to say that at Blackpool Pleasure Beach we are justifiably proud of our Portland stone facade.

PricewaterhouseCooper found that when Mace, the contract managers, contacted Easton Masonry (Portland) Co Ltd, the stone contractors for the south portico, about the tip off, Easton denied the charge that they had substituted the stone.