Interesting but I doubt his 'irony' in the lampoon was obvious to most people at the time. He's not daft (I have met him & his wife a couple of times, used to live not far away from me), but he is a rather brash and 'untutored' person, not overly sensitive.
I'm sorry when anyone loses a job but I have read of people being fired for far less, Carol Thatcher being one example when she said her French tennis player friend reminded her of a golliwog with his wild mop of hair. I do wonder about her colleagues who reported her remark, however that was a long time ago.
