The writer (and BBC broadcaster) Libby Purves had the Corporation’s former director general Mark Thompson neatly skewered on Monday even before he tried to defend the indefensible over pay-offs to his work pals before the Public Accounts Committee. On coruscating form in her Times column that day she wrote: “The vainglorious managerial money grab [and included in this were fat-cat salaries] was as abusive in its own way as a rich DJ taking his pleasure from the shame of his victims.” (The reference there, of course, was to the late Jimmy Savile concerning whom there are still outstanding questions for Thompson.) My attitude to this long-time Oxford resident over matters financial dates to the occasion a few years back when he showed himself so penny-pinching as to claim back from the BBC some money he had spent on a parking ticket, all 70p of it.

At around the same time, I observed him haggling — the word seems appropriate — with a member of staff in Oxfam’s St Giles’ bookshop over the price of a purchase. The item in question was an expensive boxed set of history DVDs, dealing with the Second World War, as I remember. As he prepared to pay, Thompson pointed to a sale reduction offer emblazoned on the packaging. This quite clearly related to the item as originally sold brand- new. Thompson, however, appeared to think that he was in line for the same percentage saving on his purchase. He was very swiftly told that this was not the case. But I am pleased to report that this did not deter him from parting with his cash. Perhaps he would later be making a claim for the DVDs from the BBC “for research purposes”.