'if supporting a politician you don't like is grounds for disfavour, then you could end up disliking an awful lot of people, most of them good at what they do.'

Don't want to creep the thread too much particularly as there are a couple of good jokes I had forgotten above but supporting Thatcher back in 1979/80 was not a forgiveable act. It was a declaration of where you stood in a war that a lot of people didn't realise had been declared and they were the victims of. It might not have mattered to you that chunks of the show biz establishment showed their contempt for the people that paid them but some of us find it rather coloured our perception of people who tried to ingratiate themselves with us on the box.

It doesn't mean that he wasn't intelligent, witty or funny but then so can Bernard Manning be (more shame him). A lot of humour tends to be quite specific to generations and I think he appealed more to my parents and grandparents sense of humour.