THE PATENT PENDING

Have you noticed how women can throw a strop at the drop of a hat? You can't fail to have noticed, in fact - every stand-up comedian on television since 1970 has brought this observation to your attention.

And yet, it's still enough to secure you a show on ITV. Make the same observation in bad false teeth and 1970s clothes and you can get a whole series on BBC-2.

In the Television Age, good, original punchlines are a rare breed. You have to work to get originality into an old joke, and there's that risk that the audience just won't like it.

Have you noticed how women can throw a strop at the drop of a hat? But men are usually better at throwing darts, so it balances out, I guess. That's how mother nature works - it's all checks and balances.