Caprice accidentally breaks the last linguistic taboo on television

It is, or it was, the last linguistic taboo, the final insult, the unsayable word. It is heard on football terraces, on building sites and in dockers' pubs.

It rarely appears in the conversation of ladies, in the discussions of academe or in Hollywood films, even when the dialogue is by Quentin Tarantino. And the last place you expect to find it is on the lips of a beautiful American model on daytime television. But now history has been made. For probably the first time, someone has said the "c-word" live on British terrestrial television.

Caprice was appearing on ITV1's This Morning and talking about her stint in The Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler's celebration of female genitalia at the Arts Theatre in London. Caprice said: "One of my monologues is called 'Reclaiming C***'. It is very challenging." The two presenters, Fern Britton and John Leslie, carried on as if nothing had happened.

Even more remarkably, only one person rang to complain. It is just possible nobody heard it. A spokesman for the programme said: "Caprice's accent is so strong we had to rewind the tape six times to find out what she actually said."

Caprice apologised later, saying: "I did not mean any offence. I have been using the word every night in the show so I am kind of used to it now."

She joins the distinguished company of the late Kenneth Tynan, the theatre critic who was the first man to say "fuck" live on television in 1965.