It's always been an ambition of mine to write headlines for UK tabloid The Sun, and I'm delighted to report today that this long-held wish has finally been granted.

Compare and contrast our "Oz vigilantes capture Toadzilla" with "Toadzilla: Giant toad captured".

For shame. And in case you think it's just The Sun who enthusiatically embraced the "Toadzilla" moniker, try The Guardian ("'Toadzilla' captured in Australia"), Canada's CBC News ("Toadzilla captured in Australia"), The Evening Standard ("Dog-sized 'Toadzilla' discovered"), or Ananova ("Toadzilla seized in Australia").

It gets worse. According to the latter, the beast "has been nicknamed Toadzilla" - a fact confirmed by the New York Post which describes the monster as "a mean 2-pounder the size of a small dog who was nicknamed 'Toadzilla' and captured in Australia".

In fact, it was our very own John Lettice who christened the oversized amphibian Toadzilla when he threw over an email yesterday alerting me to this piece in The Independent.

We should point out that since we're currently working on a Toadzilla book and film deal, with associated marketing spin-offs (Toadzilla footballs, squeaky Toadzilla dog toys, cuddly Toadzilla baby comforters, Toadzilla-flavoured vodka-based liquors, etc, etc), further unauthorised use of the Toadzilla®©™ brand will result in Viacom-style $1bn lawsuits. You have been warned. ®

Further headline tomfoolery

There's still time to nominate your fave Reg headline/headlines in our "Black Cock" awards. Full details here.

Bootnote

Oh, ok then. We weren't actually the first bright sparks to think up the name Toadzilla, as you can see here.

Related stories

• Japanese to patent transparent frog (27 September 2007)
• Oz vigilantes capture Toadzilla (27 March 2007)