LONDON

FORMER SINN FEIN President Gerry Adams has shocked a London court by implying that deceased comedian Benny Hill was a member of the Irish Republican Army.

From the witness box, where he is the subject of a personal injury action, Adams replied to a suggestion that his wearing a black beret at the funeral of an IRA volunteer in 1971 implied that he was an IRA member, that Benny Hill wore a black beret too.

Mr Adams did not reveal whether Benny Hill might have been a member of the Provisional IRA, or the Official IRA, and whether the comedian was involved in any operations during the Troubles or just produced influential propaganda for the Irish cause.

MI5 and Scotland Yard’s Special Branch are now supposedly poring over Benny Hill scripts, and watching recordings of his comedy shows, to see if anything might indicate his Irish Republican loyalties. An officer has revealed that they are particularly interested in Mr Hill’s 1971 hit song Ernie, which involved a violent fight between a milkman and a baker, and could be seen as a metaphor for the struggle between the IRA and the British Army.