In praise of potholes

His ambulance thumped it so hard that the jolt slowed Ray’s pulse from 180-plus to a more normal 60. Thus it’s possible that he owes his continued existence to Wiltshire Council’s failing road-repair system.

So instead of complaining perhaps we should celebrate Salisbury’s leadership in the provision of these life-saving indentations. Examples are too numerous to list but, for ambulance crews carrying cardiac patients, taking a route along Blue Boar Row might prove particularly invigorating.

I only became aware of the furrow shown in my photograph after ploughing into it on my bike, but can testify that hitting it at speed was something you don’t do twice.

• The Chalke Valley History Festival is over for another year, and what an event it was. It’s hard to know how a small village in the tall weeds has somehow managed to pull in such top-quality speakers, but there’s no arguing that they were all outstanding.

For my money the most remarkable talk was given by Captain Eric “Winkle” Brown, the 93-year-old veteran test-pilot who holds the world record for flying the greatest number of different aircraft types – in his case over 450.

He spoke for an hour without notes, and most of we ageing anoraks had expected anecdotes about flying. Instead he described entering Belsen concentration camp as an interpreter with the first British troops, and subsequently interrogating amongst others Herman Goering, Heinrich Himmler and Werner von Braun. You could have heard a pin drop as he talked, and he thoroughly deserved his standing ovation.

Another memorable talk was by Don McCullin, arguably the best war-photographer since David Douglas Duncan and Robert Capa, who talked quietly about some of the appalling events he’d witnessed in a 50-year career.

We once both sought cover in a large bomb crater beside Highway 13 in Vietnam and (given that we were being mortared for much of the time) he was remarkably calm - which was very reassuring to we other less-experienced hacks.

Having now heard about his earlier experiences in Congo and Biafra that cool-headedness is understandable. So too are the recurrent nightmares which he told his audience have haunted him since retirement.

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