... what appeared to be overt appeals to anti-gay sentiment. When House Majority Whip Dick Armey referred to fellow Congressman Barney Frank as Barney Fag in 1995, he suffered a barage of negative publicity that prompted him to explain his choice of words as a slip of the tongue.

Martin was pretty dull as names went but 'Alex Blake' had a certain dash to it. His publishers hadn't considered Martin's own name to be 'punchy' enough.

She lay face-down, an infected puncture point on the inside of her thigh oozing a faint lymph.

It was, however, the pleasure of his niggard and unhappy fortune, that in seeking a place proper for his accommodation, he and Dapple tumbled into a deep and very dark pit, among a number of old buildings.