14 JUNE 2003, Page 39

Travelling incognito

From Mr Gordon Rees Sir: Stanley Baldwin was another prime minister who regularly used public transport (Letters, 7 June). Taking the train to his Bewdley constituency one weekend, he was confronted by a fellow passenger who asked, 'Aren't you Baldwin who was at Harrow in '84?'

'Yes,' replied the prime minister.

'I am in engineering myself,' said the passenger. 'Tell me, Baldwin, what are you doing with yourself these days?'

Talk about days of lost innocence. Gordon Rees Leeds, Yorkshire