Theatre trip

Today we went into London to a matinee performance of 'Taken at Midnight', which tells the true story of a Jewish lawyer who subpoenaed Adolf Hitler in 1931 to appear in court as a witness in a trial, and was subsequently arrested and ultimately died, supposedly of suicide, in a concentration camp. A heavy subject certainly, but what a superb and powerful play. Penelope Wilton, who most people in the UK will know better as an actress in light drama and comedy, was excellent.

On a totally different subject, people of my age may remember growing up to animal programmes on TV which included Desmond Morris in 'Zoo Time', and Johnny Morris in 'Animal Magic'. Whilst they were entertaining, I much preferred some of the imported programmes at the time, which seemed so wonderfully glamourous. There was, of course, Captain Jacques Cousteau with his boat the Calypso, Armand and Michaela Dennis and their safaris in Africa, and Hans and Lotte Hass, with their underwater photography. Hans and Lotte Hass were so popular that I remember having a plastic model of Hans Hass which came in a cereal packet; if you put it into a lemonade bottle filled with water and sealed the stopper, it would go up and down through the water. I think Hans Hass died a couple of years ago but I was sad to read today's obituary of Lotte Hass, who has died aged 86.