“And the winner of the best ape call...”

A zoo (I didn’t catch which one) has decided that they would no longer feed bananas to their monkeys as they considered them unhealthy as it was like giving sweets to children.

As I said to the driver the chimp that played Cheetah in the old Tarzan films didn’t do too bad on them as I am sure it lived to a ripe old age.

A short while later I was buying some bananas and apples in the inside market and a chap was also buying some bananas so I told him what I had heard on the radio and what I said about Cheetah. He laughed and said “It’s April 1st”. The assistant who was serving me must have heard me as well because she said “I thought Tarzan was imaginary.” Did she think I thought Tarzan was real or did she not think that Cheetah was played by a real chimp?

As a youngster Tarzan was one of my favourite characters. When I went to the old Red Circle library in the centre of town (Upper Millgate) with my father he let me take a couple of the Tarzan books by Edgar Rice Burroughs out which I enjoyed reading and so I read a few more. I also read the Tarzan comics as well and I saw the Tarzan films when they came to the town. Lex Barker was playing him, then Johnny Weissmuller had moved on to playing Jungle Jim.

When I was walking home from school my mate Geoff and myself would see who could make the best Tarzan ape call.

One summer I went to Cayton Bay holiday camp and won the under 11 Tarzan competition for the best ape call.

Last year I had a visit from another old school mate Dave, who was returning a DVD of the serial Flash Gordon I had lent him. I told him I had one of Tarzan as well and this was before Johnny Weissmuller and Dave told me that when he was younger he was on holiday at Blackpool and he swam in the same swimming pool as Johnny Weissmuller who was over here touring and giving exhibitions.

Can anybody beat that?

Ray Hill, Greenfield Road, Rotherham