<
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220815-the-uks-eccentric-book-loving-kingdom>
'On 1 April 1977, second-hand bookshop owner Richard Booth donned a homemade
crown, marched through the streets of Hay-on-Wye and declared himself "King of
Hay" outside the gates of the Welsh town's Norman-era castle.
Holding a regal sceptre fashioned from brass plumbing and with the freshly
stitched green-and-white flag of the new "Kingdom of Hay" flying behind him,
Booth informed bemused residents and press that with himself as "king",
independence from the United Kingdom would encourage tourism and revitalise the
town's declining economy.
Booth issued passports, stamps and currency for his new "nation", his "cabinet
ministers" were elected after a few too many drinks in the local pub, and he
would later appoint his horse, Goldie, as prime minister. He bestowed
citizenship and peerages upon his supporters and fans, and he would rule his
self-declared kingdom from the ramparts of Hay Castle until his death in 2019.
"Booth was a showman and a businessman," said Mari Fforde, a local historian
who works for the Hay Castle Trust. "He saw any opportunity for publicity. The
declaration of independence was part of that keen sense of publicity, his
eccentric and iconoclastic streak and his love of attention."
The bookseller's bold bid for independence revived the fortunes of an ailing
town. "A lot of small towns were in decline at the time," explained Dr Reg
Clark, who worked as Booth's publicist in the 1970s and became the Kingdom of
Hay's "Minister for Technology". "The decline was happening in small Welsh
towns everywhere. People in rural areas would get an education, but then they
would move out and get jobs elsewhere". Booth's marketing ploy brought an
influx of curious tourists and bibliophiles to Hay-on-Wye, allowing the
second-hand book market to flourish. With a population of just 1,500, the town
remains home to some 20-plus bookshops and hosts the United Kingdom's largest
literary event, the annual Hay Festival.'
Via Susan ****
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*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
