An amusing incident, in which Viscount Peel, the ex-Speaker, was the principal figure, took place the other afternoon in the part of the [House of Commons] which is specially reserved for visitors from another place.
His Lordship forgetting for the moment that he was anything more than a distinguished stranger, was observed by the horror-stricken attendants to be seated with his hat on. All efforts at gesticulations proved of no avail. One of the messengers made his way to the Peers Gallery, where the mistake was soon rectified.
One shudders to think, however, says the Westminster Gazette, what would have been the fate of any noble lord who had committed so dire an offence in the days when Viscount Peel himself, the very personification of Parliamentary etiquette, occupied the Presidential Chair.
– The Waimate Daily Advertiser, September 15, 1900
Gasp! The horror! I bet Viscount Peel would’ve thrown tea and crumpets at them.
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Disclaimer: The modern era is far from the first to grapple with rampant “fake news.” As I am neither a historian nor journalist, I make no claims about the accuracy or lack thereof of the above sources. I assert only that they make for a good story.