I remember we did two things while we were there during those three days. We went to see the Laurence Olivier Henry V, which had just come on, and my father took me to lunch at 10 Downing Street. And that was wonderful because there was Winston Churchill; I had met him several times before as a small child. He was a great friend of my parents but I hadn't seen him for a long time and now there he was at number 10 wearing his siren suit, which were these dungarees that he'd designed himself made of velvet I need hardly tell you. And looking – it was like my mother said – he always looked exactly like the good little pig that had built his house of bricks.

And I remember I put my foot in it over lunch because this was the time of the flying bombs, the V1s and the V2s and the Prime Minister turned to me and said, 'And I trust your college is doing... is supporting the new bombing raids.' And I said, 'Well, fortunately sir, it's not. It's wonderful because we've all been allowed off morning chapel. They don't want too many people gathered in one place, so morning chapel is out for a little bit. So we're terribly lucky.' 'I am very sorry to hear that you have allowed German involvement to have interfered with your daily schedule. It's very important that boys should go to their regular daily worship. I think you should protest and demand the headmaster that morning chapel should be instantly reinstated.' So I obviously sort of... my father leapt to the rescue and there it was. It was alright in the end. He tipped me £2 which was the largest tip I think I've ever been given by anybody. Normally you were lucky if you got one.