THERE

was a very eminent heckler at the book launch for Queen Of The World, by my colleague Robert Hardman. The author told guests at Hatchards, Piccadilly, how a VC winner, Australian Vietnam vet Keith Payne, was so scared of meeting the Queen that he fled his own investiture. Tracked down by an equerry, Payne said: ‘I’ve never been so nervous in my life.’ As Hardman recounted his story, up piped a voice: ‘Almost right, but you’re missing a rather rude adjective!’ It was the former equerry, later First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Jock Slater.