Sir,

Mr. Josh Richards (November 28) is misquoting me when he says that I am mistaken in thinking that 'the Emperor and family did not visit Caldey'. I never made any such statement. I merely said that Haile Selassie did not visit the island. If Mr. Richards will read my letter again he will see that I quoted Miss Bridie Cummins as having told me how the children had stayed on the island with her family. We know they visited there.

It is, I fear, Mr. Richards's childhood memories which are at fault when he says that 'The Bounty' was owned by the Emperor of Abyssinia and his family. My fairly thorough research over the years established that 'The Bounty' was owned by Mrs. Consuelo King, and Miss Cummins is once again happy for me to quote her as saying that this was so. Mrs. King had inherited the boat from her benefactress, Miss Helen Hope.

There could hardly have been much argument about the children visiting when there is a picture of little Prince Iskundra, taken on the island, in my book 'Caldey', whilst, in the other book, 'Total Community', I referred to him as being 'the youngest son of the late Ras Desta'.

As if it really matters, and I don't suppose it does, the children were taken to the island by Prince Sahle Selassie, younger son of the Emperor.

The last thing I want to do is to cause more trouble, or stir up any strife but, whilst we are on the subject, perhaps it should be mentioned en passant that in my book 'Amroth; A Brief History' it was necessary to include a brief passage assuring readers that the story that Haile Selassie had visited Amroth Castle in the 1930s was also complete nonsense. That's a fair old stretch from Caldey, and I hope Mr. Richards remembered to put those two clocks back an hour at the end of October.

Roscoe Howells,

Glan-Y-Môr,

Amroth.