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Which side do you dress? SIR: I write in respect of the article ‘Gentleman’s Relish’ by Mark Palmer (Spring issue). I too was brought up in Reading in the 1950s, though not, as I suspect in Mr Palmer’s case, as a scion of the excellent company that manufactured biscuits right next to Reading Gaol. However, I have to question Mr Palmer’s memories of a bespoke tailor asking the question ‘And which way do you hang, sir?’ Any respectable bespoke tailor or gentleman’s outfitter of the time would have asked, ‘Which side do you dress, sir?’ An issue never addressed by Levi Strauss, I imagine. Ian R A Brown, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Black Country blues SIR: Jonathan Meades’s article (April issue), headed ‘Lucky Brummies’, is excellent all round – particularly in bringing attention to the new Pevsner. But it is wrong to elide Birmingham and the Black Country (my country). They are mutually exclusive. The Black Country is defined by the coalfield on which it is set. Birmingham stands outside. The elision was particularly unfortunate given the juxtaposition of the article heading and the first paragraph which suggests that, at least when the coalfield was operational, those who lived outside it were the lucky ones. Those of us from the Black Country have always been happy as well as proud of the fact, ta muchly aer kid. Gary Hickinbottom, Walsall (but, alas, currently London SW10)
was older even than his own commanding officer, Lt Col Lord Lovat. However, he was about to take part in what is regarded as the only truly successful action in that misguided operation. No 4 Commando was tasked with scaling the cliffs at Varengeville, three miles to the west of the town, and silencing a large German coastal battery that posed a serious threat to the invaders. This it did, in what has been described many times since as a text-book assault. One of his colleagues, Capt Pat Porteous, was awarded the VC for his part in the action. Sadly, in the midst of very hard hand-to-hand fighting, Capt Pettiward was shot and killed by the defending forces. In his memoirs, Lord Lovat described his death as one of his own saddest personal losses of the war. Capt Pettiward is commemorated on the Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial in Surrey, having no known grave. John Martin, Holt, Norfolk
Spectator, led to Pettiward’s joining Fleming for an expedition to Brazil. Their purpose was to determine the fate of the explorer Colonel Percy Fawcett, who had disappeared in the Mato Grosso seven years earlier. No trace of Fawcett was found, but Fleming’s first book, Brazilian Adventure, was published the following year. Simon Courtauld, All Cannings, Wiltshire
Peter Fleming in Brazil
SIR: Thank you to Gyles Brandreth for his moving tribute to Peter Bowles (Spring issue), an actor I have long admired. Peter shared my five minutes of fame way back in 1964. I was 12 years old when we appeared in an episode of the police series No Hiding Place. As a young fan, I was at the ground of Crystal Palace Football Club watching the players train when a film crew turned up to shoot some establishing shots around a story about the murder of the club manager, as I recall. Peter was playing one of the footballers (Joe Bask). When most of the young fans were ushered out, I hung back and was asked by the director to walk up and get an autograph from Peter’s character as he sat on a bench talking to another ‘player’. We had it in the can in about three takes, I remember, and I was given a pound note, with thanks. We had no recording facilities in those days, of course, so the whole family was around the telly a few weeks later to see it go out – the only time I have ever seen it. It was a thrilling moment for me and I’ve bored people with this story over the years, many of them too young even to know what No Hiding Place is. Peter, of
SIR: Not only was Roger Pettiward a well-known cartoonist, under the pseudonym Paul Crum (The Old Un’s Notes, Spring issue); in 1932 he became an intrepid explorer. A chance encounter with his Etonian and Oxford contemporary Peter Fleming, outside the London offices of the
RIP Captain Pettiward SIR: The Old Un’s Notes (Spring issue) made reference to the sad death of the cartoonist Roger Pettiward, almost 80 years ago, at the age of 35. May I add a footnote? On 19th August 1942, Capt Pettiward was leading F Troop, No 4 Commando during the attempt to capture the occupied port of Dieppe. At that point in his life, he
44 The Oldie May 2022
‘So, would this be a journey you’re going on, or a “journey”?’
Split opinion SIR: If James Crawshaw (Spring issue) is going to be picky about grammar, perhaps he should correct the following: ‘Why don’t people try to not start sentences…’ Gosh, the mind boggles at what my English teacher would have said! I cannot help you if you are unclear about the errors. John Elder, Angus, Scotland
Bowles on the ball
