Henry Naylor started out in comedy but the lines that get the biggest laughs in Monstering the Rocketman are not his. That credit goes to the subeditors on the Sun whose talent for writing headlines, as crass as they were inspired, was second to none. In their 1980s heyday, when the tabloid’s circulation soared close to 4m, they could sum up their readers’ belligerent mood with a “Gotcha” or just make them laugh.
You might wince at a bottom-related soap-opera story headlined “Rear Enders” or, in the 1990s, George Michael being stung with “Zip Me Up Before You Go Go”, but you can only admire their panache.
