Ian Hislop opens Have I Got News For You broadcast with joke about taxi incident

By Ellie Iorizzo, PA Los Angeles Correspondent

Ian Hislop opened the BBC’s Have I Got News For You broadcast saying “I always say at this point I’m glad to be here, but this week I really mean it” following an incident which saw the rear window of a London taxi he was travelling in smashed.

It was initially believed the London black taxi had been hit by a bullet, but the police in the British capital have since confirmed there is “no evidence of a firearms discharge at this time”.

Police said they are continuing to investigate the circumstances around the incident that took place in the Soho area on Tuesday morning.

Private Eye editor Hislop said on the BBC comedy quiz show on Friday: “There was one high point when a policeman investigating me said ‘this may be a silly question, but is there anyone who might have a grudge against you?’.”

His fellow team captain Paul Merton joked: “I have an alibi.”

Hislop previously issued a statement thanking “everyone for their concern” over the incident.

“He can confirm that there was an incident in a taxi yesterday in which a rear window shattered, and the police are investigating,” the statement said.

“They were initially looking into the possibility of a shot having been fired but have now indicated that there may be another more innocent explanation for what happened.”

The investigation followed a call from the driver, who had reported he was “stationary in traffic in Dean Street when a shot was fired towards his vehicle, striking the window and damaging it”.

No injuries were reported, with police launching an investigation, and seizing the vehicle.

Hislop (64) has served as a team captain on the BBC comedy current affairs quiz show since its first episode in 1990, and has been the editor of Private Eye magazine since 1986.