Article: *!@**!*!@**!*!!!; Twenty-five years after The Sex Pistols swore on TV, Madonna has proved we still prefer to stay tight-lipped when it comes to the f-word

'F***," my mother explained patiently when I first said it, "is not a word you use in polite company." Twenty-five years later The Sex Pistols obtained overnight tabloid notoriety using the word on a teatime TV show. "What's that you said?" demanded Bill Grundy, a fussy primary school teacher, as the boys muttered among themselves. "Come on, say it louder, let everyone hear!"

We've just passed the 25th anniversary of that notorious Bill Grundy show and the fuss that was made then does now seem strange. These days f*** is routinely said on television. In Christmas week Dom Joly could be heard swearing on Trigger Happy TV, for example, a prime-time show watched by children, and I don't ...

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