I WAS having a late evening hot chocolate with Mrs Mann on Wednesday when I accidentally turned on the TV -- and was subjected to the sight of a naked council officer from Wycombe.

It happened accidentally, because we normally prefer the wireless to the idiot box. I had only switched on the set to see the Wycombe Wanderers' score on Ceefax.

By mistake, I flicked the telly onto a show by comedians Hale and Pace. At that precise moment they were introducing an item called the Naked Civil Servant.

Mrs Mann and I watched transfixed as they announced the civil servant in question was an officer from Wycombe District Council.

The cameras homed in on his naked behind as I quickly switched channels. Mrs Mann thought I was trying to save her from embarrassment, but I was only attempting to videotape the thing so my friends at the Bucks Free Press could all have a laugh too.

In the event, I failed to get the tape to work and missed the rest of the item. But my colleagues informed me later that the man in question was indeed a housing officer from our august local authority. He had agreed to go on the comedy show to demonstrate to the public that council officers are not boring.

Mrs Mann was outraged that one of our public servants could do this, especially one day before an election. But then she still thinks the Benny Hill Show should be banned, so I'm not sure if her views are reflective of the whole community.

No, I for one, applaud this officer and think more should be done to humanise dull and dreary local government. There would have been a far bigger turnout at yesterday's local election had candidates appeared on the doorstep wearing, say, red noses and clown masks.

And the public would be sure to finally attend council meetings if our councillors conducted them in the nude. This would bring local government to the masses at last and would be great for democracy.

It's high time our straight-laced civil servants showed there is another side to them -- even if it is their backside.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.