In some circumstances the word fuck is used where we more or less expect it - in
pornography, modern novels,
and "progressive" talk. Historically it has sometimes appeared when least expected: for
instance the dread word
slipped into the columns of "The Times" (London) on 13 January 1882. The
report of a speech delivered by the
Attorney General, Sir William Harcourt, included one man's sentiment that "he felt like a bit of
fucking." The
shock at this in Printing House Square was so great that a full four days elapsed before "the
management of this
journal" could steel itself to issue an apology - it spoke of "gross outrage," of a "malicious
fabrication" that was
"surreptitiously introduced" and noted that the matter was under legal investigation - "it is to
be hoped that the
perpetrator of the outrage will be brought to punishment." "The Times" suffered
another terrible blow when an
advertisement for a book about the public schools was discovered, after the paper had been
printed, to include
the line - "With a Glossary of Some Words used by Henry Irving in his disquisitions upon
fucking, which is in
common use in these schools." And this only a few months after the first incident! Not a good
year for "The
Times". It is also noted that in a daily paper reporting the birth of a royal child - "the
substitution of an F for a
B in the name of the palace where the queen was confined gave the heading of the notice a
suspiciously
suggestive appearance." All in all, Kenneth Tynan's delivery of the word fuck on BBC
television had one or two
"establishment" precedents.