Scowling savagely, he paced the tables, singing in a terri-fyingly gruff voice as he went: "You 'orrible lollopy sloppy lot, You idle scruffy bunch!

Fact is, he makes The Boo Radleys resemble a scruffy bunch of Scouse noiseniks.

"Send 'em on their way, scruffy bunch of ragbags," Ambrose Spike snorted.

They were a scruffy bunch, in his experience.

They looked a scruffy bunch, they did.

Numbering about fifteen, they were a scrawny, scruffy bunch, with mangy coats and darting eyes.

A scruffy bunch of button-pushers and theoreticians.

The biggest danger isn't fighting a scruffy bunch of outlaws; it's afterward, when you find out whether the League accepts your actions.

"God knows all the secrets and all the jokes," I said, "and I wish He'd share the secret of the joke that explains why He created such a scruffy bunch of hired killers."