Victoria Plum

In the early 1980s, television journalist Angela Rippon wrote a series children's books about a character called "Victoria Plum" for Purnell and Sons. The character was a tree fairy in "the Great Wood". Other fairy characters - Marsha, Ben, Sugar Plum - and talking woodland creatures inhabited the fictional universe. The series spawned related merchandise and a Christmas annual.

Karl once bought a Victoria Plum figurine for his mother's Christmas present. He was very proud of his purchase as he knew she was a fan of gnomes. When he took her to the shop days before Christmas hoping to gauge her reaction, she looked at it and replied, "That looks bloody awful". On Christmas day she claimed to have been talking about another item, but Karl was already aware of her opinion. He arguably earned a certain amount of sympathy from Ricky and Steve. Karl often says this is why he doesn't buy presents for people any more.

Karl told the story on the 21 December 2002 Xfm show.