The Republic of Frestonia

Dated October 30th, 1977, and signed by David Rappaport-Bramley, Minister for State for Foreign Affairs, this landmark application requests full membership of the United Nations, with autonomous nation status.

The Carbreakers Gallery, run by Brien Assiter, Minister for Arts & Culture, was located opposite a scrap merchant and breakers yard, run by Ginger. Professional lighting was donated by Sandy Nairne, later to be Director of the National Portrait Gallery, and the Carbreakers launched with a media bang. The location of the gallery hampered chances […]

The Tribal Messenger was the national newspaper of Frestonia.

Frestonian stamps were safely delivered worldwide, with replies received from New Zealand, Australia and the States. The fact that the stamps had a vaguely Danish look probably helped. Frestonia applied to join the International Postal Union, pointing out that Frestonia was happy to deliver mail from all over the world within its boundaries and expected […]

To have your passport stamped with the Frestonian visa stamp was the ernest wish of every tourist to Frestonia. So the coachloads of Danish school kids, for instance, would get a quick 5-minute tour round the country, taking in the communal gardens with the mountain landscape painted on the corrugated iron, and the river and […]

Part of the agreement regarding the rezoning of Frestonia included accommodation for light industry, so that the craftspeople could continue to live and operate workshops in the area. Nicholas Albery envisaged a craft village, perhaps inspired in part by the Findhorn Ecovillage, under development in Moray, Scotland around the same time. Nick’s ambitions sought simply to provide basic amenities […]

Despite expressing sympathy for the aspirations of the Frestonians, Howe concedes: “…my training as an international lawyer (and a former Law Officer of the Crown) is bound to induce a degree of scepticism about your aspirations for international status!”

This letter from the GLC is addressed to Mr. Exelby-Bramley, Nicholas Albery’s pseudonym for his various activities to protect his family name, which was very well known. It contains the line: “All I can say is were you not to exist it would be necessary to invent you.” To which Nicholas later replied: “Since we […]