Hi Chris (G),

Hmmm... I'd be inclined to stick to the more precise, original form, but that's just me.
It will be interesting to see whether the NS is more relaxed about it than I am! ;)

Good luck with your entries, anyway; ten each! :)

Clearly they are more relaxed, Jayne, since they say "events or persons" and not just persons.

Good point, Bob, though of course it's still possible that they'd like the event to form the first line.

I think I'm just inured to the fact that the first line contains only the subject matter of the clerihew.

Bazza, John, Frank, anyone... your thoughts on this?

Jayne

Spain it is, Bazza.

Call me wanton, but I favour quality of wit & invention over prescriptive formats.

Yes, but 'prescriptive formats' make things what they are, don't they, Bazza?

When does a clerihew cease to be a clerihew and become just a four line poem about someone (or something, as per this challenge)?

Wit and invention will win over another clerihew that hasn't got it, but being a clerihew is still the basic requirement.

Jayne

Two last-minute attempts:

The late Ronald Searle's
naughty schoolgirls
were a marvellous creation,
causing much titillation.

Macca (Sir Paul)
met his downfall
with the crazy Heather.
He and Nancy should be happier together.

I wonder about the form, too--what does one do with all of the celebrities with one name, sometimes one syllable?

Cher -Cher?
The name's too spare,
She is one of the few
Who eludes Clerihew.


Good luck Jayne!
One of the Susans (:)

Bentley himself (google him) used places and also first lines of which the name was only a part. So I think Bazza is right.

Geography
Is about maps
But biography
Is about chaps.

is one of his.

Here are two classics from Auden's Academic Graffiti (In Memoriam Ogden Nash):

When Karl Marx
Found the phrase "financial sharks",
He sang a Te Deum
In the British Museum.

Lord Byron
Once succumbed to a Siren:
His flesh was weak,
Hers Greek.