The Irish Independent showed commendable restraint in not mentioning its chairman's investiture this week as a knight of the British realm. No picture, not so much as a paragraph. We hear that the London Independent did not even know the investiture was happening and when it discovered late on Tuesday, wailed that everybody would lose their jobs because the event had not been covered. Sir Tony's new-found reticence on the matter of his British gong may not be unconnected with the realisation that being seen on his knees before a British monarch might not be universally appreciated, particularly among the Irish-American community. It was not Sir Tony's first time meeting Queen Elizabeth. He found himself seated beside her once at a posh luncheon at Ascot. It was around the time that Shergar had been stolen and the queen, as an enthusiastic horse-owner, was keen to know more. Sir Tony said the matter was as much as mystery to him as to anybody else but the speculation in Ireland was that Shergar was probably hamburger.
The queen asked about the policeman leading the investigation, Chief Insp James "Jazzer" Murphy. He was appearing nightly on TV wearing a distinctive pork-pie hat. Sir Tony said Jazzer was based in Naas, not far from his own Irish home, Castlemartin. "You know," said the queen, "at the palace, we call him Inspector O'Clouseau". (That, at any rate, is the way Sir Tony tells the yarn.)