The Hospital Joke
This joke first appeared on the Halls in the late 1920's in the repertoire of Norman 'Cheeky Chappie' Eckersthwaite and was the subject of an intervention by the Lord Chamberlain.
By 1940 the joke was in common everyday use in military hospitals under the '39, Commandeering and Martial Seizures (Jokes and Bon Mots) Act. By 1945 the joke formed part of a Marshall Plan exchange and was sighted regularly in the Catskills.
With the advent of the more permissive 1960s, the joke fell into disuse and was officially decommissioned as a complete embarrassment in June '68.
By 1978 the joke was in very poor condition, awaiting dismantling in a Newcastle scrapyard where it was spotted by a scriptwriter for the Granada sitcom 'Whoops, Vicar...My Neighbour's a Coon!!' (Now, fortunately, defunct).
In the hope of a resurgence, enormous quantities were invested in the joke throughout the 80's. Tragically, it was enormously overquoted in spite of its limited value in real terms and suffered an extremely hostile takeover by a group of 'Alternative Comedians' in 1989.
The joke has since been asset stripped and is available for private viewing, by appointment only, to academics and enthusiasts.
A small group of us are currently looking into its ironic/postmodern potential with a view to setting it up a National Monument with Millenium funding.