What are bear fruit?

One Saturday in 2005 Jan and I were enjoying a lunchtime drink at the Scarbrough Hotel in Leeds and reading the Guardian. After a while I realised Jan was looking at something in the bit I was reading and looking quite confused. Upon asking what the matter was she said " What are bear fruit, and how do you make diet ones?" I had no idea what she was on about and said so whereupon Jan pointed to a headline in the paper and I collapse in hysterics. The headline?

"Lessons on diet bear fruit in Healthville"
To this day Jan insists there should be a comma in it... somewhere! Bear fruit became an in joke between us. Jan mailed a favourite artist of mine NobbyNobody with the story as a suggestion for one of his wonderful drawings. And this was the result

And so started "The World of Janisms" .... wonderfully daft statements... usually followed by the plaintive cry " It's not me fault!"