Is “Lord Privy Seal” a technical term in documentary film making? Richard Dawkins has claimed many times in public speeches, especially in reference to the documentary “Expelled”, that documentary filmmakers use the expression “Lord Privy Seal” in a disparaging manner to describe the amateur’s tendency to illustrate words or sentences spoken by the narrator with a straight picture depicting said concept. However, a Google search for the term only reveals references to the English nobility title (which the saying is supposedly derived from) and to Richard Dawkins making this claim. Even the Wikipedia entry refers to Richard Dawkins. One would think that if it’s a well-known expression in the trade, surely some documentary filmmaking fansite, glossary or handbook would define the term, and Google should be able to find such a page which predates Richard Dawkins. Is this term real, or did Richard Dawkins (or someone he knows) make it up?

No, Richard Dawkins did not invent the term.

"Lord Privy Seal" is a reference to a parody of the practice performed by David Frost, on The Frost Report in 1966.

Since then, the trope has been known by other terms, such as B Roll Rebus.

Webster's Online Dictionary acknowledges this usage and the etymology:

> The term "Lord Privy Seal" (as in "not bad, but it's a bit Lord Privy Seal") is used in the British television industry as shorthand for associating pictures too closely and literally with every element of the accompanying spoken script

Webster's seems to rely on the memoirs of BBC insider, John Sergeant, _Give me Ten Seconds_ , for the usage.