SIR ALAN PATRICK HERBERT, 61, represented Oxford University as an independent Member of Parliament for 14 years,* has written more than 40 books, a dozen musical comedies, and is the mainstay of Britain's humorous weekly, Punch.
Herbert is an extremely serious man who is always making jokes, and his biggest jokes are the most serious. But to take him seriously is to make him laff. To laff, as they tell you in Dublin, is not the same thing as to laugh; Laughter is a nervous reaction. Laffing is an expression of selfcriticism, of anguish....
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