Otway's Personalized Cheques

This is one of those items that occasionally come along and cause me to think "that'd look great on the web pages" without actually bothering to think about where it would fit in. Suffice to say, therefore, that I decided to link it to the line at the end of the main Otway page which requested that any spare gold bullion you might have could be suitably disposed of in my direction.

It seemed to fit there because I wouldn't like to restrict myself to gold bullion alone - cash and cheques will do as well. But not this sort of cheque. More rubber than a packet of Marigolds.

Those of you who have read Otway's autobiography, "Cor Baby That's Really Me" will already be aware of the existance of his personalized cheques. For the rest of you, here's an extract from chapter nineteen, at which point he had reched the heady heights of his stardom:-

Over one of the many meals Otway had in one of the many expensive restaurants in London, Kathy told John the story of how Piccasso would sign for his small bills and his signature was worth more than the amount being charged. In this way Pablo saved on things like his milk bill.

It was the sort of story that impressed Otway, and would trigger off an idea.

"If I get some cheques printed up with a nice photo of myself on them," he thought, "I may do even better than Piccasso. They would become collectors' items. The man on the corner shop could frame his Otway cheque and say to customers in years to come, 'Oh yes, John used to buy his Old Holbourne tobacco in this shop when he lived around the corner.' I could get free tobacco, beer, food and newspapers, as well as milk."

The idea was classic Otway, and once he had thought it up, it was pretty obvious that it would come to fruition.

And so a photo session was booked, special art work was commissioned, and John's bank manager, thankful that the letters O.D. did not appear after every entry in his statements for once, organised the printing. All in all pretty expensive.

"You'll need a lot of free tobacco, beer, food, newspapers and milk to recoup this little venture," Paul said wryly.

Otway's autobiography also featured a picture of one of the cheques. In black and white. Not to be outdone, here in glorious colour (that glorious colour being blue!) is a scan of a cheque, courtesy of Chris Nuza (and the scanning abilities of her husband, Roy):-

Please note: Otway and Lloyds have since parted company, so don't bother trying to print this cheque out in order to defraud him, as it'll only bounce right back to you (probably via the Fraud Squad)