It's amazing what one can get away with by judicious use of BS.
Another tale that did the rounds at NPL in the 70s concerned the sports & social club.

Apparently a dealer was willing to give a discount for an official government orders (not available to the sports club), so an official looking order was generated to the purchacing office and, by a little jiggery-pokery, the funds juggled to get funds added into the lab account.
In due time an official order went out for a "tunable percussive mechanical digital tone generator" - and, after a couple of weeks, the sports club got a new piano.

W