Wally (anonymous)

Wally is a British English expression referring to a "silly or inept person",[1] which later developed into an umbrella term for "vulnerable individuals".[2]

According to Oxford Dictionaries Online, it possibly originated at a pop festival in the 1960s when, on hearing the name being announced many times over a loudspeaker, the crowd took it up as a chant.[1] I remember sitting on the hill at the 1970 festival overlooking the site when a guy nearby went to get some food and couldn't find his way back his friends called out his name "Wally" and slowly the crowd joined in . The cry was picked up by others and led to random shout of "Wally" being heard at rock concerts all over Britain.[3][4] It was still being called out at the 1979 Led Zeppelin Knebworth Concerts.[5]

In 1974 a group of new age travelers were encamped near Stonehenge, to help hinder the process of eviction by the landowners they all gave their name as Wally of Wessex, "Wally being a conveniently anonymous umbrella for vulnerable individuals".[2]

See also

References
  1. "wally" Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  2. Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition. wally, n.2 citing "1974 Times 8 Aug. 2/4"
  3. Nigel Ayers. Where's Wally, Retrieved 2009-01-26
  4. Although Nigel Ayers claims 1969, most other sources claim it was at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival (see Further reading).
  5. "A special thing that I remember is that one person out in the dark night first shouted 'Wally' and then a lot people shouted back 'Bloody Wally' and that continued for hours" (Zarans, Dena (10 December 2007). "Led Zeppelin - Knebworth '79 - More Of Your Memories". Uncut. Retrieved 1 June 2017.),

Further reading
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