Ernest is an obstructive administrative force whose fame derives from his bureaucratic zeal

No one knows quite how long Ernest has been working for the City accountancy firm of Tender & Mainprice; the precise details are lost in his personal file. Even the senior partner, a fiftysomething veteran who joined the company in 1981, cannot recall a time when Ernest's worn and slightly querulous figure was not seen stalking the Lothbury corridors or brooding in his basement lair: as fixtures go, he is very nearly the equivalent of Sir Job Tender, who founded the concern in the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and whose portrait can be seen hanging pinkly in the vestibule.