"Black Rod! Black Rod!" rang the cry down Westminster's vaulted corridors. The Commons' heavy oak doors clashed shut ahead of the Queen's messenger as they had for 300 years at that cry, in a traditional assertion of independence dating from the time that Charles I invaded the House of Commons with soldiers in an attempt to arrest Hampden, Pym and three other members in 1642. Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, Lieut. General Sir Brian HorrocksĀonce one of Ike's corps commanders in World War II but now rigged up in kneebreechesĀknocked three times with his staff at the barred doors....
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