Animal gospel approved

Press, 7 March 1984, Page 22

Animal gospel approved

By

DIANA DEKKER

in London

A new gospel peopled with animals and written by a former ratcatcher, plumber’s mate, and light bulb inspector has won approval from the Archbishop of Canterbury. The “Woodland Gospels” were written by Jeremy Lloyd and have characters such as old badger who disappears through the undergrowth at one stage

shouting, “Jesus is back just like he promised and He is a lot smaller than I thought He was.” Other characters are Captain Beaky, Timid Toad, and Hissing Sid whose greatgreat - great - grandfather could have been the villain who encouraged Eve to nibble the apple. Jeremy Lloyd is the author of the television senes, “Are You Being Served?” His tales of Wood-

land people were first published in 1977 and a record of one of the stories, read by the actor, Keith Michell, became a hit

In a foreward to the book, the Archibishop of Canterbury, Dr Robert Runcie, says, “You may think at first that Captain Beaky, Artful Owl, Reckless Rat, and Timid Toad would make strange disciples iof our-ftord.” F