History has a way of rehabilitating political villains, and there was a considerable amount of sentimentality following the death of one of the US's most notorious lawyer presidents, Richard Milhous Nixon, nearly 11 years ago. So it was intriguing to see some clips of 'Tricky Dicky' looking as shifty as ever at a Media Society dinner - sponsored by London, Cheltenham and Los Angeles-based media solicitors Wiggin & Co - last week honouring the now elder statesman of the televised interview, Sir David Frost. In the post-Watergate era, a psychologically bruised America was reluctant to hear from Nixon, who was then regarded as the devil incarnate. US television stations were not keen to give the disgraced president the oxygen of publicity, so Sir David effectively created his own company to organise a round of interviews with Nixon, which he ultimately flogged to national television and were watched by some 50 million viewers. Former BBC director general Sir John Birt took a leave of absence from his then role as head of current affairs at LWT to produce the programmes for Sir David. At the dinner, Sir John confirmed to the guests - including Ronnie Corbett, Betty Boothroyd and Rory Bremner - at the Savoy Hotel in London that Nixon's reputation for carnal conversation was entirely valid. The ex-president's opening gambit before one Monday morning filming session was to ask: 'Have you done any fornicating over the weekend, David?' According to Birt, Nixon went on to tease Frost for wearing shoes that were 'too effeminate.'