Glass houses

The revelation that the BBC has no specific rule against sex in the office has taken a number of people by surprise.  It came from Rachel Currie, top HR henchwoman to Lucy Adams. She seemed very relaxed in her explanation to staff magazine Ariel: "I would have thought our new open plan offices and glass fronted meeting rooms would be a sufficient deterrent these days for all but the most adventurous".

Ms Currie, like others in personnel before her, has forgotten that the BBC is a broadcasting organisation, and as well as the wide open spaces of White City and Salford, there are STUDIOS and a range of ancillary, enclosed spaces.  And historically, at least, we have some evidence of activity. Take this Tweet from a senior Radio 4 announcer - "We thought we were being VERY daring in the mic cupboard of S6 [a basement radio studio] at Bush House but obviously not".  When I pressed for detail on the "we" involved, I was advised this was loose phrasing - the golden voice in question was "far too goody-two-shoes".

Giles Dilnot, reporter for The Daily Politics, was also surprised there was no explicit ruling. "I thought that was sacred text not urban myth. Makes that night in 96 in studio 4 all a bit meaningless".

When I joined Auntie in 1973, it was made pretty clear that a trainee would soon part company with the organisation if found without a tv licence. On the other matter, timing and venue were the issue. For example, someone who was caught "in flagrante" in a lift on Election Night had their contract terminated sharpish.

A story from the eighties. A colleague who was a studio manager had been attending the legendary SMs Christmas Party in the basement of Broadcasting House. He went to collect his coat from a rest-room on the upper floors, and, approaching the door, heard unrestful creaking noises. He gently pushed the door open, and from the darkness on top of the bunk bed inside, came the rhythmic gasping of a couple lost in the throes of robust coition.  In the available light, my colleague discreetly picked up his coat from the lower bunk and left, leaving the lovers to their inexorable progress, none the wiser.

The next day, there was the traditional review of the previous night's events in a local pub. My colleague told his rest-room story, and within seconds a kangaroo court had been set up. He was charged with failing to switch the light on and identify the couple, found guilty and sentenced to buy all rounds until the group were next required to open faders. If the management don't get you, your mates will...

• 1015 Update: A correspondent who joined our premier broadcaster in 1987 says there was a rule, clearly expressed as "no sex in an operational area - that seemed specific enough to be credible and yet sufficiently vague to allow certain freedoms". 

Dear reader, I have tales that show liberties were taken in operational areas.