"When briefing a senior officer [understood to be Sqn Ldr or above] put down pipe or cigarette".
Wg Cdrs and above were usually sufficient to bring Cloudy to his feet, albeit in a hunched, nicotine stained, and dishevelled state.
My prize briefings:
Douglas Bader
Sir Malcolm Campbell
Mickey Martin
and ACM Stacey's chopper pilot, who I told to "sod off, sunshine, you can't queue jump just because you forgot to book on the mayfly".
C Met O had me on the mat for that but he had trouble keeping a straight face. There is quite a lot of background to that episode.