“I’ll tell you what, shall we do it inside Frankie (Howerd). It could easily have been Mary Berry but apparently she’s been booked up for months!"

It’s all very innocent, we were simply looking for the free meeting room at W1A. “Mr R” had wanted to discuss graphics for window dressing the meeting rooms, to keep the voyeurs at bay.

Goodness Gracious Me! That was the first window design on the agenda, followed by Strictly Come Dancing and finished off with a bit of Porridge. No, it wasn't a trip to the infamous BBC canteen – we were discussing the chances of getting Fletch up against a door! Ooh matron…

(That’s Kenneth Williams, not Frankie! Ed.) 

It's my guilty secret, I’ve always moonlighted for the BBC, even for other departments when I was part of auntie’s furniture. Even now, I hold it dear to my heart and whenever I get the call from “Mr R” for “something you might be interested in”, I make time in the diary and nip over for a cuppa and Meet (in) the Midwives, for a chat.

“How many meeting rooms are there?”, I hear you say. Never enough, if you’ve ever watched an episode of W1A!

Not being able to pop over to the Beeb, “Mr R” called me up. Could I help with a personal project he’d been working on? He’s a published poet and during lockdown he’d been working on series of poems around the theme of fairytales, in aid of NHS charities and he asked, could I help the cause?

He didn’t need to ask twice. It was a delight to produce, the poems are both witty and clever, as well as being beautifully illustrated by his good friend, artist and illustrator, Jessica Palmer using her distinctive collage technique.

“Don’t laugh, it’s wicked to mock the afflicted.”

So, if you forgive me for my little trip down memory lane and the poor taste in humour, there is a serious message to my ramblings. Please dig deep, even though the finances are more stretched than ever, buy Ten Lockdown Fairytales and support the NHS Charities in the process.

Price: only £5 inc.p&p

All profits to NHS Charities.