A very naughty German (no, not that one)

For anyone who did not live in Britain in the 1980s, you may not know about Viz comics, and for anyone who is not British, you may not understand the humour anyway. I don't understand it myself.

When touring in Europe we always took the latest Viz with us to read on the long journeys between gigs. I was usually driving, but the laughing out loud from the others as they read from it always brought a smile to my face, and I looked forward to getting to the hotel and laughing myself.

We also used Viz as a test of character. We would meet a German council official for a drink for instance, then hand them a copy of Viz. Most of them looked perplexed and asked us what we found so funny about it. We knew we would get along well with the ones who laughed.

We got drunk with one such Bavarian official, and late at night he suddenly asked us if we had any fireworks. I said that we had a quantity of large rockets, so he excitedly suggested that we go into the ancient town square and wake up the locals by firing one off.

I took a very large rocket from the van and set the launcher in the middle of the square. I was a little nervous because all the medieval buildings in it were thatched, including the old Rathaus which was our host's office during the day. Also, fireworks are highly regulated in Germany. You need a licence to use them.

The official was giggling with excitement, and when the rocket went up and exploded with a deafening bang, all of the lights came on around the square as people began leaning out of the windows and peering through the smoke to see what had happened.

Then a police car came into the street and stopped right beside us. The councillor quickly kicked the box of rockets under the van as they got out of the car.

The police recognised the councillor and began asking him about the explosion. He denied any knowledge of it, obviously lying. Eventually the polizei sighed and got back into the car, advising us to go home to bed.

I bet the councillor is still telling his grandchildren about his night of extreme naughtiness.