These* were the legendary words with which Decca Records rejected the Beatles after an audition in 1962. I couldn't help thinking of this when I read Nick Grealy's post this morning on the subject of the size of the UK shale gas resource. Reporting on a presentation made by DECC at a conference earlier this year, Grealy reveals that the Bowland shale may actually be dwarfed by some of its neighbours.
In the Bowland Basin, the total Bowland-Hodder unit is interpreted to reach a thickness of up to 1900 m (6300 ft), but the interval may be much thicker within the narrow, fault-bounded Gainsborough, Edale and Widmerpool basins (Figs. 4 & 5; up to 3000 m / 10000 ft, 3500 m / 11500 ft, and 2900 m / 9500 ft respectively).
11500 feet is something of the order of two miles. That's a lot of shale. This figure from the DECC presentation gives a feel for what we are talking about:
;)
The Bowland Shale - the beast of Blackpool, is represented by some of the little tiddlers on the left. But look at the size of Long Eaton!
Didn't someone say the other day that guitar bands were on the way out that the UK had a "paucity of shale reserves"? Well perhaps. We are only talking about potential. But would you bet against the whole lot being uneconomic? There was a lot of life in finger-picking as I recall.
*[corrected 8.14 am 18.12.12 BH]