A comedy in the ‘sixth dimension’ (on the theory that somewhere in the infinite universe there is bound to be a place that matches every human fantasy)
The 31st June was first performed as a play and then later a short novel. The idea of transporting the employees of a 1960s London Advertising agency into a parallel fantasy medieval Arthurian world provides a series of comedy gifts. It may even have provided some inspiration for Monty Python’s much later film ‘Search for the Holy Grail’, containing equally silly mix ups of present day and fantasy past. (It is well known the Pythons were Priestley fans.) . From the pneumatic drills constantly interrupting the pretentious meetings at Wallaby, Dimmock, Paly and Tooks , to the endless requests of the Arthurian music fans to hear ‘The Black Knight Hath My Heart’ , it’s a satirical take on early 1960s swinging London, as well as exploring Dunn’s ‘Theory of the sixth dimension”
‘On the 31st of June in the kingdom of Peradore, owing to the deplorable lack of progress in Arthurian England, , no office blocks were being knocked down for more office blocks, no take-over bids were being made, there were no traffic problems giving folk nervous breakdowns, and no one was planning desperately how to make its exports exceed its imports. ….It was not in fact planning anything except what to have for dinner.’
The King’s daughter Princess Millicent has fallen for a handsome young man she has seen in a magic mirror and due to the scheming of two mischievous and competing wizard ‘Enchanters’ , Malgrim and Malagram, she is then transported to the highly stressful world of the 1960’s advertising firm of Wallaby, Dimmock, Paly and Tooks , and their problematic Chunky-Choc and Damsel stockings accounts. Meantime their frustrated young employee Sam, the man in the mirror, finds himself transported back to Peradore. When the Enchanters send other members of the ad agency to join him, they persuade King Meliot that Sam is worthy of Millicent’s hand, but first he must fight the dreaded Red Knight and then an even more terrible dragon. However, thanks to the Enchanters things in London and Peradore are not always as they seem.
“A rollicking piece of humour …he can raise more laughs to the page than any other storyteller.’ John O’London
J.B PRIESTLEY 