THE letter from Brian Galpin (December 29) asking ‘why birds on feeders only feed on their left side’ reminds me of a wartime Brains Trust held in the Corn Exchange, Blandford, when local dignitaries, trying to answer and comment on some of the profound questions of the day, were brought back to earth by an elderly gent, known for his eccentricities, asking ‘Why the bath water always goes out of the bath the same way’.

I have long forgotten what the answer was but I am pretty sure there is a satisfactory explanation, as no doubt there is to the question posed by Mr Galpin.

Those wartime Brains Trusts provided both light relief and intelligent comment on the issues of the time and I suspect that Mr Galpin and some of your older readers will recall two of the regular contributors – Professor Joad ‘it all depends what you mean by’ or Commander Campbell ‘when I was in Patagonia’.

All, of course, a long time ago, but for me, at least, still remembered!

Now where did I put my keys?

GORDON CANN Craigmoor Avenue, Bournemouth