Samuel Plimsoll. He was very concerned about working conditions for merchant sailors in the nineteenth century. I think he published a book called "The Sailor's Friend". At any rate, he introduced a lot of reforms which were unpopular with ship owners, including the Plimsoll line. This was orignally a single line (with a circle through it) painted on the side of a ship, showing the deepest safe loading the ship could take. The idea was to stop insurance scams, where the ship was overloaded so it sank (with loss of hands, officers and any passengers!), so the owners could claim the insurance. It became law after long and bitter arguments between the interested lobbies in Parliament; but the bad guys got it amended so they could paint the line where they wanted, instead of where the Board of Trade would have put it.

Er ... what was the question?!

Talking of alternative names for naughty bits, A. P. Herbert wrote a very amusing (and not offensive) poem on the subject, which I can't for the life of me remember, except it refers to "such a short and unattrctive little word". Any offers?

Steve