Gnome Guard Shock Army Chiefs

by Jamie Pyatt

Britain's elite Army officer training collage has been invaded - by more than 250 GNOMES.

Cadets at Sandhurst each smuggled in one of the foot-high garden statues and hid them all over the grounds as a farewell prank.

But the top brass were furious. They couldn't find all the gnomes before a passing out parade in front of royalty and heads of state.

One grinning gnome was perched on a canopy 75ft above the VIPs on the parade ground.

Cadets strugggled to stifle their chuckles in front of the King of Jordan, the President of Uganda and the Crown Prince of Tonga.

Amusing

The first the Army knew about the prank was when one of the gnomes turned up on Academy Adjutant Major James Stopford's desk. It had a note, reading "Please help me find by 250 brothers"

So far 50 gnomes - some in camouflage gear - have been rounded up.

It is thought all 253 junior officers smuggled a gnome into the military camp in Berkshire.

A Sandhurst source said: "Secretly, top brass find it quite amusing"

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "The college is on leave and nobody is there except staff and gnomes. "Somehow I don't think either will be prepared to comment".

Sun (Tuesday September 5 2000)