Hislop clearly has an affection for the past, and has been branded a young fogey since he took charge of Private Eye at the age of 26 in 1986. He had never worn jeans until Radio 4’s comedy show I’ve Never Seen Star Wars recently persuaded him into a pair. But that’s not to say he yearns for the comfortable certainties of yesteryear. “Knowing my luck I might have been one of the people who needed the philanthropy,” he says. “I’d much rather live today. I’m not being nostalgic. I’m just saying the modern idea that we’ve got everything right and can patronise people in the past is on the whole wrong.”