the same time we desire that it should be known by her Majesty the Queen that no town has a greater sense of loyalty and devotion to the Crown than the borough of Altrincham.” At the start of the controversy, Grigg was invited by Granada Television to be interviewed on their news programme Impact. The interview took place on the evening of 6 August 1957, and was conducted by Robin Day. Grigg defended his article in front of Day, stating that he did not wish to apologise or retract what he had written, but saying that he did regret that anyone should have thought he was hostile to the Queen. He said that his aim had been to bring about a change in the atmosphere which surrounded the Queen and the Monarchy across the whole country. After the interview, Grigg left Television House in the company of Ludovic Kennedy. As the two of them came out onto the street, Philip Kinghorn Burbidge, a member of the far-right, extreme-nationalist League of Empire Loyalists, came up to them and slapped Grigg's face, saying: "Take that from the League of Empire Loyalists." Burbidge, who was 64 years old, was taken away by the police. Grigg said of the incident: "There was no strength behind the blow. I have not had to have any attention. There were quite a lot of bystanders who saw this happen. They all seemed tremendously friendly towards me." Burbidge later pleaded guilty to a charge of using insulting behaviour. He was fined 20 shillings. The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Sir Laurence Dunne, said of him: "I suppose 96 per cent of the population of this country were disgusted and offended by what was written, but I suppose that 99.9 per cent recurring of these would hesitate to select you as their champion. Your action only made a most unsavoury episode more squalid. In a case like this the weapon to be used is the weight of public opinion and not to make it the excuse for a gutter brawl." Burbidge himself said: "Such actions are foreign to my nature. Due to the scurrilous attack by Lord Altrincham I felt it was up to a decent Briton to show resentment. What I feared most was the overseas repercussions and publication in American newspapers. I thought our fortunes were at a low ebb and such things only made them more deplorable." Robert