YET another theory, regarding the 'blue moon' yedscratter posed earlier by the Greenalls Club's veteran bitter-garglers, has floated in from the Lancashire coast.

Eric Dever, who lives in the intriguing-named Bare district of Morecambe, trawls up an exotic theory as to how the term 'once in a blue moon' originated.

A keen customer of this column, Eric passes on an explanation provided by his grandson. It follows several other theories, supplied earlier by our readers, and our Bare chum quotes: "The expression came about after the eruption of the volcano Krakatoa in Java during 1883.

"The eruption sent clouds of fine ash into the upper atmosphere, blocking out the sun for several days and making the moon appear blue at night. Hence the expression for something that does not occur very often -- such as a volcano eruption."

THANKS to one and all who responded over recent weeks to what seems to have been one of the most keenly-debated puzzlers in many a blue moon!