What a lovely war!
From Mr Allan Massie Sir: Robert Macfarlane (Books, 7 June) quotes Bill Bryson as saying that J.B.S. Haldane 'perhaps uniquely among human beings .. found the first world war "a very enjoyable experience".'
In, I think, the first of the Bulldog Drummond books, 'Sapper' (Lt-Col. HC. MeNeile) wrote, 'The ordinary joys of an infantry subaltern's life, such as going over the top, were not enough for Drummond's appetite.'
You may, of course, object that Drummond was not a human being, but a fictional character. Nevertheless, Sapper's words suggest that Haldane may not have been so unique.
As another fictional character, Captain Grimes, put it, recalling the war, 'Those were the days, old boy. We shan't see the like of them again. I don't suppose I was really sober for more than a few hours for the whole of that war.'
Allan Massie Selkirk, Scotland
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