There is no doubt which Murdoch family member emerged best from the phone-hacking hearing before a UK House of Commons select committee this week. Leaping across the room to land a loud slap on the idiotic foam-pie protester who had assailed her 80-year-old husband, Wendi Murdoch was fearsome.

Both Wendi and James Murdoch spent most of the hearing looking worried about Rupert Murdoch, as if they had to protect the chairman and chief executive of News Corp from saying the wrong thing. James kept trying to deflect the questions from his father and, when the need came to defend him physically, the mogul’s wife was poised for action.

It was painfully clear that Mr Murdoch, despite his achievements and the fear he used to strike into politicians and business competitors, is a diminished force. As Thomas Perkins, a 79-year-old director of News Corp, admitted frankly this week: “I know he’s devastated by this. Just devastated. And I worry about him, you know, physically, being about the same age.”