Leading Article: Now, where were we?

NO, WAIT, we must tell you this, it's so good we want to hear it ourselves! What? Where were we? Oh, yes, that's right. This fella goes to the doctor. The doctor tells him to say "Aaah!" So he asks why he wants him to say "Aaah" and the doctor says, "My dog's died". What? Where were we? Oh, yes, that's right, the Millennium Dome's Body Zone is going to have a Comedian Brain wearing a fez telling Tommy Cooper gags.

This is the best news we've heard since they announced that Her Majesty will be leading the conga there on New Year's Eve (or did we imagine that?). For, of our many island achievements, that of Cooper is one of the most impressive, not least because he could make you laugh without doing anything, a feat not even the Conservative Party has mastered yet.

Would he have been taken with this honour? Certainly, but probably not quite as much as with entry No 48 in the list of TV's 100 Greatest Moments: "Live From Her Majesty's: Tommy Cooper dies on stage (1984)". You've got to laugh.

Now, where were we? Oh, yes. Cover the egg with the handkerchief. Magic word. Take the mallet...