Always check the large print

There is a wise convention in journalism that you don't write funny captions or headlines that are not meant to be published.... because they invariably will be.

The same is true of pictures. Nothing should be put into a picture as a joke as it is sure to appear on the page. I recall some years ago, a car magazine wanted to show a beat-up old car on its cover. The studio was booked. The car arrived. And the staff had great fun throwing dirt on the car and writing in the mud adorning the chassis.

It was an eagle-eyed publisher who spotted the word "wanker" in the dust on the car's bonnet. He caught the obscenity in time and had the picture killed.

Not so lucky were the publishers of Elle Decoration. The September cover features a blackboard decorated with various scribbles in chalk. Sadly, unnoticed in the top right corner of the board someone has written "Our friendship is tighter than a nun's vagina".

Red faces all round at Hachette Filipacchi.