Red faces at that paragon of British virtue - the BBC. It seems that somebody thought it would lift the ratings by running a story about Queen Liz having a hissy fit and stalking off the stage when a producer asked her to dump her tiara. It seems that the whole affair was a non event - but it certainly damaged the image of the BBC in British eyes.
Australians are mostly mystified at the relationship between the BBC and the British public. Decades ago there was the war between the British government and commercial radio when Whitehall decided that the only radio British listeners would hear would be the state controlled BBC.
As a result, commercial radio had to " go pirate " and so came the era of " Radio Caroline ", a station on a ship broadcasting from outside the twelve mile limit and another station installed on a world war 11 radar platform off the coast.
The government tried to jam the signals, but the British public were enchanted at bright, modern music in contrast to the dirges favoured by the BBC - and in the end the government admitted defeat and now commercial and BBC share the airwaves in Britain.
Then there is the matter of radio and TV listeners licenses. We had them here at one time - with detector vans roaming the streets looking for unlicensed listeners - but Australia rebelled and such licenses have long been a thing of the past in this country.
Of course we still have a British flavour in the offerings of our ABC. Expatriate Poms living here could think they were still in the old country when they tune in to " The Bill " and other typical English fare - but if they want a touch of the continent - or the rest of the world for that matter - they would be wise to try SBS.
Occasionally they might find a programme in English - and the standards which include full frontal nudity and unmentionable subjects are a fresh change from the " Americanization " which pervades our commercial channels.
It seems the world is as close as the buttons on our remote controls !
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