Up to brilliance of Bridgwater?

cession is daylight and ours is an illuminated spectacle.”

And with a number of other slightly lesser known carnivals taking place this week, we asked Roger to assess their charms.

He said: “I didn’t know what to make of the Dusseldorf one. It’s obviously political satire. Political entries are not allowed on the Somerset circuit, albeit some comic entries may poke fun at politicians in a relatively non-offensive way.

“Ivrea also left me unable to comment. The picture doesn’t tell me enough, although it’s obvious that they have a surplus of oranges!

“The Sao Paolo entry looks amazing and again it’s all about size. I estimate the entry at 24 feet high. In Somerset, telephone cables and electricity cables are typically 20 feet up. Hence all the Somerset entries have to restrict their height to 17 feet 6 inches. Nonetheless, the Sao Paolo entry is impressive.

“So in a nutshell, there are some amazing carnivals around the world, but why go to South America and pay £480 per seat when Bridgwater offers the best illuminated carnival in Europe?”

Bridgwater Carnival publicity officer Chris Hocking said that carnivalites regularly travel to other events across Europe.

He said: “In recent years I have personally organised trips to European carnivals for groups of 30 or so people. Amongst the places we have visited are Viareggio (Italy), Nice (France), Malta and Acireale (Sicily) – all of which have amazing spectacular carnivals, but the size of our parades in Bridgwater and the high standards achieved by our own clubs still lead us to believe that Bridgwater Carnival is the greatest illuminated carnival parade in Europe.”

Who knows, perhaps some visitors from New Orleans or Rio might be in Bridgwater in eight months’ time on Saturday, November 2, to pick up a few tips on how it is really done...

1 - Members of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club parade down St Charles Avenue Mardi Gras Day on March 5, 2019, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mardi Gras, also called Shrove Tuesday, Carnival Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday, is associated with Carnival celebrations in New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro and around the world. (Photo by

Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

2 - A performer dances during Magueira performance at the Rio de Janeiro Carnival at Sambodromo on March 4, 2019, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Raphael Dias/Getty Images)

3 - A carnival float depicts Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin cutting the INF Treaty during the traditional carnival parade in Duesseldorf, Germany, on Monday, March 4, 2019. The satirical street spectacles in the carnival centres of Duesseldorf, Mainz and Cologne, watched by hundreds of thousands of people, are the highlights in Germany’s carnival season on Rosemonday. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

4 - People wearing protective helmets and costumes throw and are hit by oranges as part of carnival celebrations in the northern Italian Piedmont town of Ivrea, on Monday, March 4, 2019. The traditional orange throwing battle has its roots in the middle of the 19th century. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

5 - Performers from the Salgueiro samba school parade during carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Monday, March 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

6 - Dancers from the Aguia de Ouro samba school perform on a float during a carnival parade in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

7 - In this February 28, 2019, photo people wearing large ‘Tschaeggaettae’ masks walk in the streets of the village of Blatten in the Loetschental valley, Switzerland. During this sinister carnival, about one hundred participants, wearing wooden ‘Tschaeggaettae’ masks and animal furs, crowd the streets between the villages of Blatten and Ferden to scare the people in the Loetschental. (Valentin Flauraud/Keystone/AP)

8 - The giant train float Smokey Mary chugs down Napoleon Avenue as the 1,400 men and women of the crew of Orpheus present a 38-float Mardi Gras parade entitled “The Orpheus Imaginarium” on the Uptown parade route in New Orleans on Monday, March 4, 2019. (Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune via AP)