The recent piece on Talbot Clifton, the Squire of Lytham, has brought a most interesting reaction from Harry Toner of Holywood, Co Down. You will recall, dear reader, that I outlined some of the extraordinary behaviour of this larger-than-life character who was president of Royal Lytham until his death in 1928.

My correspondent writes: "His son, Harry Talbot de Vere Clifton, stayed for some months in what was then the Portmarnock Country Club in 1949, when I was manager. He was a very strange character and it would take too long to outline his oddities, but he was a gentleman and very much liked by my staff and myself.

"He also stayed at the Royal Hibernian, where I was later assistant manager and nearly gave my staff the shivers with the amount of money he spent. By the way, if my memory serves me right, Talbot Clifton's wife, Violet, wrote books, one on South American indians. Harry was reputed in 1949 to be the fifth richest man in England with an income of £1 million pounds a year."