Warped

Harold Feinsteinsteinstein in 1953 with his trusted Speed Graphic SG53V camera and auto-flash. Friends say he was never seen without it which made him "a confounded nuisance on the subway and a pest at parties". The absence of a Press Pass in his hatband was an in-joke; Harold never worked for a newspaper - indeed, according to his fourth wife, never worked at all.

Many thanks to all those who sent in suggestions as to why two famous West Country personalities might have appeared in pictures by not quite as famous as he should be New York photographer Harold Feinsteinsteinstein long before they could possibly have been present in the city. This intriguing conundrum has clearly struck a chord, with more than 6 readers writing in with suggestions. Here we collate [in increasing order of implausibility] the top 10 submissions as judged by Ms Agfa Snappe-Shotte and her panel of expert assessors.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please do not send in further suggestions as your entries will not count but you may be charged with wasting police time [See Royal Dorset Constabulary Staff Bulletin: Wasting Police Time: Not All It''s Cracked Up To Be by Sir Rising Crimewave].

THOSE ENTRIES IN FULL

1. Professor Thrupiece invented a time machine in 2013 and teleported himself and Ms Sizemore back to 1948. [NB He himself chose - for reasons unknown - not to return hence his disappearance! [CLEVER]]

2. Mr Feinsteinsteinstein invented a time machine in 1948 and teleported himself and a replica of 1948 Brooklyn forward to 2013

3. Both Professor Thrupiece and Ms Sizemore had biological relatives with strikingly similar characteristics to their own living in New York in the 1940s [VERY CLEVER]

4. We are all living in a parallel universe

5. Aliens from deep space took up residence in the bodies of Professor Thrupiece and Ms Sizemore and relocated them retrospectively in the time-space continuum.

6. Someone used Threadshop or a similar image manipulator to create false images; the faces of Professor Thrupiece and Ms Sizemore being superimposed on the 1948 originals [TOO CLEVER BY HALF]

7. It's all a big mistake

8. We will never know

9. It's really spooky

10. I visited the exhibition to take a look for myself and can't afford to leave. Help!

The sender of the last of these, Ms Penny Less of Alton St Pancras, has also drawn our attention to yet another intriguing photograph which she spotted in an exhibition side room. Far from settling the matter, we suggest this merely adds to the mystery!

That's quite enough of that. [Ed]

Friends at the Beach [1951]