To JOHN CLEESE
Nov 7 1979

Dear John,

I dimly remember saying the other night at supper that whoever Andrew Boyle thought was the real Fourth Man, Private Eye are bound to print his name. Well, enclosed bears me out, much to my surprise. To add soya sauce to the whole thing, Auberon Waugh on another page disputes it and prints two other names. The fact that I’ve never heard of any of them detracts little from what is a very wonderful controversy.

As you don’t like Sir James Ingrams, I know you won’t be buying Private Eye, so I take the liberty of zeroxing it, and infiltrating it into your house.

Oh, by the way, there’s something I’ve often meant to raise with you but never have. It will probably come as a surprise to you to learn that I was planted on Punch ten years ago by the Russians to subvert the nation and to recruit other subversives. If you’d be interested in joining the payroll, we’d love to have you. The Reds pay marvellously, the drink is lavish and the work is not arduous. In fact, it’s exactly what we’re all doing already – producing comedy for the public to enjoy when they should be making cars.

Ciao, comrade.