I had to adamantly insist that any question of the repatriation of a British criminal from Brazil must be a matter for the federal police authorities of Brazil to decide." Scotland Yard's failure to capture Biggs had been extensively, and gleefully, reported in the press around the world and when the Daily Express tipped Slipper off that he was in Rio the arrangements for the journey were made "in a secrecy and in a great hurry. Mary Ann Bighead, a parody of journalist Mary Ann Sieghart, often writes columns trumpeting her own brilliance and that of her daughters Brainella and Intelligencia. Elizabeth II was regularly referred to as "Brenda" and Charles III as "Brian". Historically, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was "Keith", Princess Margaret (Brenda's younger sister) was "Yvonne", and Diana, Princess of Wales, was "Cheryl"–a satire on the perceived nature of Royal affairs as a soap opera. [22] [23]

Prime Minister Harold Wilson was always named as "Wislon", a name also later applied to A. N. Wilson. Occasionally he was referred to as "Lord Loinwash" an anagram of Harold Wilson. Natukunda, Carol (28 April 2013). "Princess Bagaya was fired for refusing to marry Amin". New Vision. Uganda . Retrieved 13 January 2014. Later that day, Amin announced that he had fired Bagaya for embarrassing him. He told his cabinet that while on her way from New York, Bagaya had a sexual escapade with a white man in a bathroom at an airport in Paris. He did not mention who this man was. 'This was both an insult and a deliberate lie, but it was also comically nonsensical. One may, I suppose, have sex anywhere – but a public toilet?' asks Kyemba, adding that they all 'laughed to tears' at Amin's absurd action. Bagaya's dismissal came on 28 November 1974Slipper was born in Ealing, west London, and educated at Little Ealing School. He left school aged 14 and worked as an electrician's apprentice until 1941, when he enlisted in the Royal Air Force. He served as an electrician with a nightfighter squadron at West Malling, and was then posted to the Rhodesian Air Training Group in Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) in 1943. Having grown to 6'3", he became light heavyweight boxing champion of the Rhodesian combined services. He was demobilized in 1946 and returned to work in London as an electrician. From 1964 until his death, Sir Alec Douglas-Home was referred to as Baillie Vass, after his photograph was mistakenly captioned as such in the Aberdeen Evening Express. [24]

Dale, Iain (10 May 2010). "In Conversation with Andrew Neil". Total Politics. Archived from the original on 13 June 2013 . Retrieved 7 September 2012. From squiffy to blotto a lexicon of lushes". The Times. London. 7 January 2006 . Retrieved 22 May 2010. The Brazilians offered to hand over Biggs in exchange for Timothy Ross, who they said was a terrorist who had returned to Britain; Biggs finally returned voluntarily to the UK in May 2001. He was accompanied by Bruce Reynolds on a private plane. Slipper believed [ why?] that Biggs should not be released, and regularly appeared in the media to comment on any news item connected to the robbery. Sullivan, Andrew (5 October 1997). "God Help the Queen". The New York Times . Retrieved 14 August 2019.Robert Maxwell, another perennial litigant against the Eye, was referred to as Cap'n Bob and the Bouncing Czech, [17] [20] the latter apparently conferred by Harold Wilson. [21] Maxwell was a Czech émigré, notably overweight and ebullient (also, a cheque which is returned due to insufficient funds is said to have "bounced").

The family of Ronnie Biggs, one of the robbers he hunted, paid tribute to the man known as Slipper of the Yard. Towards the end of each issue, the magazine contains increasingly surreal jokes, references and parodies. Many of these have developed over time, and are thus now very familiar to long-term readers. Capita, a long-term favourite target of Private Eye, is frequently called "Crapita" and "the world's worst outsourcing firm".

Former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is generally called "Gideon" by the magazine. Osborne was indeed originally named "Gideon", but disliked the name and changed it to "George" as a young man. [38] Evgeny Lebedev, who publishes The Independent and The Evening Standard, is frequently referred to as "Two Beards", in an "allusion to his alleged closeted homosexuality–though one of his former employees suggests that he might not understand exactly what the name means." [37]