[West Ender]

Nigger the labrador was killed (knocked over by a car) 65 years ago today while Guy Gibson was bombing the Ruhr Dams.

Probably most of Britain first became aware of the dam buster raids when the film was made in 1955. I remember going to see it at the Palladium and falling deeply in love with Richard Todd, who played Gibson - well, I was only 12 at the time. It left me with a serious appreciation of what an air force blue uniform can do for a man - I married an airman 7 years later - and an ability to instantly recognise the Lancaster bomber, one of only about 4 planes I can identify on sight.

Seriously, though, we owe so much to those men and to all the thousands of others who contributed, one way or another, to defeating the Nazis. Bless 'em all.