I do hope you're joking FTVS! I remember hearing Peter Sellers saying that in a film from the '50s. It is very old cockney (not rhyming slang) but I don't know the origin.
FTVS - oh dear. I believe you, but oh dear! Mind you I was going to put forward the Terry Pratchett explanation for calling a pub "The Broken Drum" - you can't beat it.