The Top 10 ‘there’s always one’ nominations for the Top 10

A collection of the best attempts to subvert the intentions of the Top 10 compiler

Pete C nominated ‘God Save the Queen’ by the Sex Pistols in the covers better than the original category (PA)

The Top 10 feature is coming to an end next month. It has been running for 10 years, since the Top 10 worst Beatles songs (that was a good one, and the origin of the “No Beatles” rule) on 2 May 2013. Next week I will round up a Top 10 of lists that never made it. The week after will be the last one: the Top 10 Top 10s of the past decade, one for each year.

This list was suggested by Paul Jervis. One of the best features of Top 10s over the years has been people competing for the “there is always one” slot, reserved for nominations that have refused to take that week’s specification seriously. Here are 10 of my favourites.

1. Covers better than the original: Pete C nominated “God Save the Queen” by the Sex Pistols.

2. Bands named after other bands’ lyrics: Ross Smith said: “The boyband Five were named after a work by Beethoven, who in turn took his name from a Chuck Berry song.”

3. Scottish words: Mike Mason nominated “indyref”, “a state of prolonged and unfulfilled angst”.

4. Famous people who lived on the same street: Mark Rogers tried to nominate Bruce Wayne and Batman, both of Mountain Drive, Gotham.

5. Fictional universities: Nigel Plevin said that, as well as Reading University, there ought to be a Writing University and a ’Rithmetic University.

6. Geographic anomalies: Congratulations to Derek Connor for this: “Ayr Town Centre – nowhere near Brazil.”

7. Pronunciations designed to trick the unwary: Graham Fildes recalled a British newspaper and associated billboard in London with the headline: “Pope Pronounced Dead.”

8. Words that began as mistakes: Harriet Marsden nominated “Brexit”.

9. Works of fiction named after a character who isn’t the main one: Harry Cole nominated the King James Bible.

10. Countries that are not where they used to be: Cole Davis pointed out that Bejam is now Iceland.

Listellany, the book of the series, is still available.

Many thanks to the hundreds of you who have contributed to the silliness over the years.