Apologies, but this thread brings to mind yet another joke, which quite appropriately involves (at least in some versions) that arch royalist and late knight of the realm, Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (at least in the version that I originally heard, in NQ in the early 80s).

Without going into too much detail, the joke ends with Joh (or substitute any other Country Party MP of the day) saying to an audience:

"I'm a Country Member"

To which a wag in the crowd responds:

"Yeah, we remember!".

Garra,

I think the wit was Gough Whitlam.

Freja,

Yes, you do have to comment on the articles - it's like a blog. We will have a free-posting bulletin board sometime, when we can find the time to programme it. Thanks for your input, and I hope as the site develops it will meet all your needs and then some.

Thanks Graham - you are of course correct. I had always thought that Gough's inclusion in the yarn was apocryphal, but it certainly accords with my memory. Ah, the good old days...

Timkins, the queen isn't exactly known for her sense of humour either.
;-)

In defence of Her Majesty - according to photographs taken last year by the Daily Mirror spy, she eats alone with a 2-bar heater and her cornflakes in Tupperware on the table. She is reliable and diligent. The jewels are not hers. She must be very lonely.
The Real Enemy in that family was Mountbatten. He plonked Philip onto Elizabeth at her most impressionable, and he was solely responsible for preventing Charles from being with Camilla back at the start of their love. What a hypocrite to insist Charles had to have a pure girl instead of Camilla. Mountbatten and his wife both 'put themselves about' most royally in the loose sex stakes.
I am sure our Queen has deep passion, and privately with her late sister, there was a great deal of joking and singing. Give her a break.

Brownie, just had to take my tiara off and wipe the tears from my eyes with my jewel encrusted kleenex. another dysfunctional family that aren't happy with stuffing up only their own lives. Two much inbreeding with the mad Germanic branch of the family is no excuse for her to prefer Tupperware over Royal Doulton. I suppose the gilt on the carriages is Dulux Spray "Gold sheen"? let's free up some of the obscene wealth stashed in the vaults back to the people. Loved the jokes by the way. What IS the value of reticence as a way of life by the way? Only to let us plebs know what "annus horribilus" actually meant? When we all knew she'd had a bummer of a year!