Houyhnhnm fields of oats". The Houyhnhnms are rational, equine beings and are masters of the land, contrasting strongly with the Yahoos, savage humanoid creatures who are no better than beasts of burden, or livestock. Whereas the Yahoos represent all that is bad about humans, Houyhnhnms have a settled, calm, reliable and rational society. Gulliver much prefers the Houyhnhnms' company to the Yahoos', even though the latter are biologically closer to him. It is possible to interpret the Houyhnhnms in a number of different ways. One might possibly, for example, regard them as a veiled criticism by Swift of the British Empire's
Val Meets The VIPs individually in the Radio Times as "Val Meets Guest Name" (ie Val Meets Susan Hampshire), but the show's titles were always "Val Meets... The VIPS". A later series, "In The Limelight With Lesley", ran on BBC1 in 1980, and followed the same format, but Lesley Judd presented. This latter series was produced by Sarah Hellings, who has since directed many television series. Margaret Thatcher was also a guest on this series and was shown the clip from her appearance on "Val Meets... Margaret Thatcher" and asked to comment on her earlier remarks. "Val Meets The VIPs" - Series 1 Guests: