“Splendid, simply splendid,” beamed 101-year old Dunkirk veteran John Hamilton as he sat in the Green Room at the Chalke Valley History Festival, glass in hand.
The small sniffer of gin I recommended to John was Downton Explorer, Batch 26, I believe. “You might like a sharper”, I said. He was about to go on stage and talk to 500 people about his exploits in 1940, interviewed by his old friend and neighbour, Major-General Andrew Cummin. John’s great claim to fame at Dunkirk is destroying three German Stuka dive-bombers which were harassing his men on the beaches.
By the way, the answer to a long life is regular exercise. John thinks nothing of pumping iron for four hours a day, followed by a G&T as reported in The Times on Saturday!
His views on life were echoed earlier in the week by veteran pilot Colin Bell. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1944, flying intruder and pathfinder operations over Berlin and other heavily defended cities in Germany, flying his unarmed Mosquito. “I like the occasional glass of quality, to keep active and the company of good women, with the occasional bad one to keep me on my toes,” he said.
When I suggested Downton Explorer, might be the right, high quality, his response was typical: “we must get it stocked by the RAF Club so we can find out!” We are now working on it.
From the 'Paul Beaver Diaries'
