Sex in Hyde Park
Sir: May I question Colin Welch's attribu- tion of the 'Makes yer proud to be an Englishman' remark to Winston Churchill defending a public figure arrested for indecent exposure (Books, 20 September)?
When I originally heard the story the remark was attributed to the Duke of Wellington when Prime Minister and refer- red to a complaint about a 77-year-old MP accused of having sexual intercourse in a public place, i.e. Hyde Park. The remark was then: 'Have I got the facts right? Chappie is 77. Snow on the ground. Ten degrees of frost. Girl of 18? Gad, sir, there are times when one is proud to be English!'
Men who expose themselves are rather pitiful figures, aren't they? It seems unfair, if not libellous to me, to suggest Churchill would use the remark to defend what must have been a rather sad exhibition of sexual perversion.
George Archbold
16A Theodore Road, Hither Green, London SE13
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