Gnome from gnome

A mishearing has generated the most innovative way to spread the Christmas spirit and Millennium greetings, with Millennium Gnomes being distributed by one London design group.

Real Time Studio managing director Phil Jones says the idea came from a discussion between foreign designers about the Millennium Dome.

‘The Mexican misheard and thought we said “gnome”, so everyone fell about laughing. Someone then had the idea of the gnomes only coming out once every 1000 years and finding someone had built a bleeding dome on their patch,’ he explains.

Lucky recipients, including DW editor Lynda Relph-Knight (above), were presented with a life-size figurine by a gnomic stranger.