Craig Hill
11th August 2008 Bonza Is Moving
August 11th 2008 04:30
The Bonny King Bonza stories have been moved from the Gordon Highlanders webpage to their own site. This is due to the fact that Brian di Francesco, President of the Highlanders, is convinced that the cartoon character Bonny King Bonza is, in fact, himself.
Bonny King Bonza
As I have stated numerous times, Bonza is a purely fictional character, based on a conglomerate of people, real and fictional, and also based on old jokes. Mr di Francesco is not one of the people I have based this character on, and he does not come into the categories of cartoon character, fictional person or old joke. Therefore, I fail to see how he remains convinced that the character is based on him.
However, in recent days, Mr Francesco has threatened legal action against me if I continue to write these stories. He has also sent harassing emails to my brother, threatening legal action against my brother if this imagined harassment continues.
Most disturbing was the fact that he felt he needed to send copies of his threats of legal action, and unfounded allegations of harassment, to my brother's children, aged just 9, 10 and 12 years of age. The children have found this quite distressing.
I have been a professional writer for 11 years, and an amateur writer since high school (over 30 years). In that time, I have never bowed to pressure where my writing has been concerned, including journalism. Nor have I had anyone go to such obsessive lengths as Mr Francesco to censor my writing, and curtail freedom of speech. In this case, it even led to harassment of preteenage children, and unprecedented threats of legal, civil and criminal action.
In order to appease Mr Francesco, I have re-written the stories, and deleted all references to Gordonland, Gordonia and the like. This in no way is an admission of any liability or wrongdoing on my behalf. It is simply because I am genuinely concerned for Mr Francesco's welfare and well-being, and have, and would never, intentionally do anything that would cause him, or anyone else, distress.
King Bonza is a character I invented at high school, and was used to highlight silly stories in the newspapers, or to retell funny jokes in a different way.
I reprised this character, and the new home he lived in, purely as a bit of comic relief for the Highlanders team, to give the team a sense of "ownership" of the character. However, the character is obviously distressing to Mr Francesco, and this was never my intent.
I have now moved the revised character back to his original kingdom of 35 years ago, Bonzaland.
The new website, containing (revised) old and future stories, is at:
Bonny King Bonza
The Gordon Highlanders website will remain open, purely for match reports and stories relating directly to the team's performance, as such information is provided by the committee.
Bonny King Bonza
As I have stated numerous times, Bonza is a purely fictional character, based on a conglomerate of people, real and fictional, and also based on old jokes. Mr di Francesco is not one of the people I have based this character on, and he does not come into the categories of cartoon character, fictional person or old joke. Therefore, I fail to see how he remains convinced that the character is based on him.
However, in recent days, Mr Francesco has threatened legal action against me if I continue to write these stories. He has also sent harassing emails to my brother, threatening legal action against my brother if this imagined harassment continues.
Most disturbing was the fact that he felt he needed to send copies of his threats of legal action, and unfounded allegations of harassment, to my brother's children, aged just 9, 10 and 12 years of age. The children have found this quite distressing.
I have been a professional writer for 11 years, and an amateur writer since high school (over 30 years). In that time, I have never bowed to pressure where my writing has been concerned, including journalism. Nor have I had anyone go to such obsessive lengths as Mr Francesco to censor my writing, and curtail freedom of speech. In this case, it even led to harassment of preteenage children, and unprecedented threats of legal, civil and criminal action.
In order to appease Mr Francesco, I have re-written the stories, and deleted all references to Gordonland, Gordonia and the like. This in no way is an admission of any liability or wrongdoing on my behalf. It is simply because I am genuinely concerned for Mr Francesco's welfare and well-being, and have, and would never, intentionally do anything that would cause him, or anyone else, distress.
King Bonza is a character I invented at high school, and was used to highlight silly stories in the newspapers, or to retell funny jokes in a different way.
I reprised this character, and the new home he lived in, purely as a bit of comic relief for the Highlanders team, to give the team a sense of "ownership" of the character. However, the character is obviously distressing to Mr Francesco, and this was never my intent.
I have now moved the revised character back to his original kingdom of 35 years ago, Bonzaland.
The new website, containing (revised) old and future stories, is at:
Bonny King Bonza
The Gordon Highlanders website will remain open, purely for match reports and stories relating directly to the team's performance, as such information is provided by the committee.
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