The boy stood up as he might if the headmaster came into the classroom.

“Please, please, no standing on ceremony, thank you,” said Churchill.

“Thank goodness for that,” said Sid. “Because I can’t! A pleasure to meet you, sir!”

“The pleasure is all mine! And who, may I ask, is this rather delightful young lady?” asked the prime minister.

It was a reasonable question as it wasn’t every day that he had a gorilla sitting in his office.

“Oh, this is Gertrude, prime minister!” began Eric. “We stole her—”

“RESCUED!” corrected Sid.

“Rescued her from LONDON ZOO.”

“And from what I saw from the terrace of the Houses of Parliament last night, she helped save me, the heads of the armed forces and the entire British government from certain death!”

“That’s right, sir,” replied Eric.

“Let’s not give Gertrude all the credit, though,” began Sid, “as I did my fair share!”

“More than your fair share,” agreed the boy.

“GRRRR!” growled the gorilla, in strong disagreement.

“So tell me more about this dreadful Nazi plot.”

Eric told Winston Churchill the whole story from start to finish. How they’d rescued Gertrude from LONDON ZOO with a barrage balloon. How they’d gone on the run from Frown, Batter and Gnarl, before escaping to Bognor Regis where they met the evil Braun twins. How the Nazi U-boat they were bundled on to was, in fact, a giant bomb! Gertrude helped with the storytelling by acting out some of the scenes. And, of course, Eric kept Sid centre-stage in the story throughout.

Churchill followed this tale of derring-do with great interest.

“Those dastardly Nazis! There is no end to their wretched villainy!” he concluded, opening a box on his desk. “Cigar?”

“I may take one for later if that’s all right, sir,” said Sid, slipping one in his breast pocket.

“Of course! Cigar?” Churchill asked Eric.

“I am only eleven,” replied the boy, “and my mum told me never to smoke. She always said it was a filthy habit.”

“Oh yes! Quite! Quite! Best not, then.”

Gertrude, meanwhile, had other ideas. She reached her big, hairy hand into the box and snatched a cigar.

“No, Gertrude!” exclaimed the boy, but it was too late. The gorilla was munching on the cigar like it was a bar of chocolate.

MUNCH! MUNCH! MUNCH!

However, her face soon soured as she realised this wasn’t something tasty at all. Then she began spitting out the pieces of cigar one by one.

“SPUT! SPUT! SPUT!”

A chewed-up lump of cigar paper landed in Winston Churchill’s eye.

SPLURT!

“I am terribly sorry, sir!” said Eric.

Taking it all in his stride, Churchill whipped the silk handkerchief from his breast pocket, and wiped his eye. “Oh! Please don’t worry. I’ve had much more badly behaved guests here at Ten Downing Street! Believe me! Ha! Ha! Ha!”

This broke the ice a little, and they all had a chuckle, even Gertrude.

“HOO! HOO!”

This made the gorilla spray even more cigar over everybody.

“HA! Ha! Ha!”

“Now I have to tell you,” began Churchill, “that this whole Nazi plot has to remain top secret. If the British people and our allies knew quite how close Mr Hitler got to having me and all the rest of us killed, it would lower morale, and hurt the war effort. Do you understand?”

Eric and Sid suddenly sat up very straight.

“Yes, sir!” replied Eric.

“Oh!” added Sid, clearly deflated. By the looks of it, he’d wanted the whole world to know all about his heroism.

“This story will remain in the British Intelligence vaults for eighty years, like many national secrets, and then, and only then, will the file finally be released.”

“We understand,” agreed Sid reluctantly.

Gertrude put her finger up to her lips in a mime that said, “TOP SECRET!”

“But we do need a code name for this operation of yours? Do you have any suggestions?” asked the PM.

“We already have one!” exclaimed the boy.

“Well, I’m not sure it’s quite…” began Sid.

“Please! Let me hear it!” insisted Churchill.

“CODE NAME BANANAS!”said Eric proudly.

Churchill chuckled so much he nearly fell off his chair.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!”

“Do you like it?” asked the boy.

“I love it!

CODE NAME BANANAS

it is!”