The History of Popular Culture

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Domestic service is back in fashion. By Jeeves is a hit in the West End and, whereas it normally takes a war to propel Israeli international press, Nannygate - the row between Israel's first lady and her nanny - has been playing on front pages around the world this silly season.

The surprise is that the relationship between servant and master or mistress ever fell out of favour as a staple of popular culture, given its rich comic potential.

Two old jokes illustrate this perfectly. In the first, an old Punch cartoon, a millionaire is handed a letter on a silver tray by his butler. He reads the letter and learns he has won the football pools, so he says languidly …