| Those expressive eyes COLONEL Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, leader of the Biafran secessionists in the Nigerian civil war of the mid-1960s, was buried with full military honours last week in a strangely unifying ceremony after his coffin had been paraded about the country for days. It's as if Nigerians yearn – at a time the country is being torn by religious zealotry - for a repeat of the conciliation that saw Ojukwu pardoned and allowed to return from exile, after the defeat of the secession attempt, to play a statesmanlike role, even running for president. Ojukwu was a burly, bearded figure with intelligent and very expressive eyes – physically rather like Jonas Savimbi, who was to lead another campaign of military dissidence in Angola about a decade later. When the Biafran cause collapsed, Ojukwu disappeared for a time. A Fleet Street cartoon showed a burly, bearded African figure in conductor's uniform on the boarding platform of a London double-decker bus. His expressive eyes were swivelled to a newspaper billboard on the pavement: "Where is Ojukwu?" Absolutely brilliant.
Manners makyth man
THE BIAFRAN war was covered for newspapers of this group by John Spicer, an early editor of the Argus Africa News Service. He was with a crowd of unruly reporters at Port Harcourt, clamouring for permission from the army commander – a Nigerian colonel known as the "Black Scorpion" - to get to the war front. The colonel was a Sandhurst man of immaculate military mien, turned out with perfectly ironed tunic and swagger stick. He looked with disdain at the scruffy hacks, then noticed Spicer, who was standing quietly looking on, wearing jacket and tie. The Black Scorpion walked up to him and said, looking at the tie: "Royal tanks?" "Yes sir," said Spicer. "North Africa." "Come with me," said the colonel. He ushered Spicer to his plane and took him alone to the front. Yep, good manners never did any harm. Classic shot THAT incident led to one of the classic photographs of the Biafran war – a platoon of federal troops storming ashore from a landing craft, accompanied by John Spicer, stepping through the shorebreak holding aloft his portable typewriter. Yep, them were the days. The Windsors BRITISH satirical magazine Private Eye is not to be outdone in coverage of the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Under the headline: "LONG RUNNING COMEDY CELEBRATES HISTORIC MILESTONE", it has a piece written by "Our Cartoon Staff Edward and Mrs The Simpsons." It is illustrated by a cartoon of the blue-rinsed Maj Simpson, of the American cartoon series, wearing a crown. "The top comedy series featuring the world's most hilarious dysfunctional family celebrated its 60th anniversary this week, with no signs of it flagging. "Defying critics who said it wouldn't last, The Windsors, featuring the long-suffering Maj Windsor, her accident-prone husband and embarrassing offspring, have entertained us for years with the familiar recipe of goofs and gaffes – and has given rise to catchphrases such as 'What do you d'oh?', 'Have you come far?' and 'Eat my Duchy Originals'. "Some have questioned if The Windsors is still funny, but the answer is a resounding yes, as …" Oh, lovely stuff! Malversation A READER who does the crosswords daily says she's discovered a wonderful new word with wide applicability in our current socio-political set-up. It's "malversation" which, according to the Reader's Digest Oxford Complete Wordfinder, means: corrupt behaviour in a position of trust; or corrupt administration. It comes from the French malverser; in turn from the Latin male (badly) plus versari (behave). A useful and contemporaneous word, alas. Great for crosswords and great for political analysis. | 
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