27 JULY 1985, Page 22

Templer, the Irish tiger

Sir: 'Templer never thought of himself as Irish' (Max Hastings's review of 13 July). The following dialogue took place during Templer's first visit to Kampar in Perak, where I was the Assistant District Officer in 1952.

Templer: Where were you before you came here?

Me: Tapah, Sir.

Templer: Before that?

Me: Trinity.

Templer: Oxford or Cambridge?

Me: Dublin.

Templer (grinning fiercely, and jabbing his stick towards a listening mixed group of my seniors and his staff): Attaboy. We'll show these English bastards how to run a war.

Michael McConville

7 Pembroke Road, Dublin 4