Letter of the week
A dying breed
JAMIE BLACKETT’S valediction to ‘The Colonel’ was a delight (Farming life, January 17). Regrettably, I only had the pleasure of meeting Lt Col John Charteris MC once, some 30 years ago. As a King’s Own Scottish Borderer (an archrival regiment to the Royal Scots), I was hauled in front of John, as Commandant at Otterburn, after I had absconded from my trench without leave, and ‘borrowed’ a Land Rover to attend a meet of Michael Hedley’s Border Hounds at the Coquet end of the Training Area.
After several days wet and frozen during a Northumbrian winter exercise, I considered the prospect of a warming ‘Percy Special’ and seeing hounds worth the risk. The expected ‘rollocking’ next day turned into a very pleasant half bottle of grog shared talking about hunting, before lunch and a lift back to my trench. I’ll
