Thanks for linking to that BBC story about Her Majesty the Queen, John. I note the reference to “royal fish” (ie whales, porpoises, sturgeons and dolphins, all of which are deemed to belong to the Monarch). In my previous life as a British bureaucrat one of the budgets I held on behalf of the Coastguard was for “disposal of royal fish,” which related to the cost of removing them from beaches or narrow inlets after they had died. On some occasions, however, it meant blowing them up. I recall a story a few years back about a whale blown up by the Royal Marines that rained rotting blubber down on a nearby town. In an effort to find this I came across The Exploding Whale web site.

My day is complete.