Forth Bridge Down

Tis a sad day.

He was a giver of great quips

My favourites include

Talking to neighbour Elton John’s about his beloved Watford themed Aston Martin, in 2001: ‘Oh, it’s you that owns that ghastly car is it? We often see it when driving to Windsor Castle.’

‘You are a woman, aren’t you?’ (In Kenya, in 1984, after accepting a small gift from a local woman).

‘Oh no, I might catch some ghastly disease.’ (in Australia, in 1992, when asked to stroke a Koala bear).

‘You look like a suicide bomber.’ (to a young female officer wearing a bullet-proof vest on Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, in 2002).

‘Well, you didn’t design your beard too well, did you?’ (to designer Stephen Judge about his tiny goatee beard in July 2009)

‘Do you have a pair of knickers made out of this?’ pointing to some tartan (to Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie a papal reception in Edinburgh in September 2010).

Duke of Edinburgh asked a driving instructor in the country in 1995: ‘How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?’




The Queen must be bereft.


He will be missed