The gaffe that has industry insiders puzzling came when Murdoch, attending a media conference, became looselipped, scattering opinions on topics ranging from the state of his company News Corp to whom he would most like to see running for the US presidency.

In the midst of it all, he also asserted that his movie studio, 20th Century Fox, had signed a sequel deal with the comedian Sacha Baron Cohen to follow up his massive mockumentary hit of last year, Borat:

Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Except that it hadn't.

No sooner had news outlets seized upon this share-moving nugget of new intelligence than Fox flacks in Los Angeles were rushing to contradict it.

"We're eager to work with Sacha again, and we've had casual discussions about a sequel, which we'd love to do, but at this point, it remains too preliminary to discuss, " said Chris Petrikin, a spokesman for the studio.

In departing from the script on Borat, Murdoch was also treading on sensitive ground.

The film, featuring Cohen as a gravely uncouth Kazakh reporter, cost Fox only $18m and grossed $248m worldwide.

But it was rival Universal Pictures that snagged Cohen for his next film project, which will be based on another of his alter egos - Bruno, a gay Austrian fashion disciple.

Had he been misinformed by someone at Fox about the actual progress made with Cohen about another Borat film, or was he indulging in some public wishful thinking?

No one in the industry doubts that a Borat II would be an almost guaranteed big money earner. It is also possible that Murdoch was obliquely taking a swipe at his studio underlings, precisely because they had not pinned down a deal.

But even if it was an inadvertent slip, that is not sufficient evidence to declare that the old man is losing his grip.

Nor was there good news for anyone waiting to step into his shoes. "I just want to live for ever, " he remarked on Thursday. "I enjoy myself too much."