Peter Rhodes on a priceless letter, octopus confusion and the trauma haunting old soldiers

EMMA Fairweather, 46, the passenger injured in a car crash with the Duke of Edinburgh, says she's "chuffed" to get a personal letter from him, sympathising with her injuries, expressing regret and explaining how he knew the road well but had been dazzled by the sun. "Chuffed" must be an understatement. I have no idea what that letter is worth now or will be worth 20 years from now, but we can safely assume Mrs Fairweather's pension is sorted.

WHETHER the Duke's insurance company approved of the letter is another matter. The stern instruction with every policy I've had is never to admit liability. Maybe different rules apply if the customer has HRH in front of his name and a Royal Warrant may be at stake.

MORE on the vexed issue of whether university students should exercise their "personal decision" to stand up when senior dons enter the room. I went to the sort of school where the whole class stood up if the Headmaster strolled in. Standing was, of course, up to the "personal decision" of students. Just as the detention that ensued was up to the personal decision of the Head.

WE are told the skies will be "full of parachutes" this summer for the 75th anniversary of D-Day June 6, 1944 in Normandy. And they said it would never happen. Back in 1994 we were told the 50th anniversary of the Normandy landings would probably be the last. Ten years later the authorities said that the 70th event would be the last. Now the very old and bold, aged at least in their 90s, are booking their places for the 75th and I wouldn't be surprised if one or two turn up as honoured guests in 2024 for the 80th. There will always be something special about The Longest Day, that great feat of arms when, in a few desperate hours, 100,000 young men grabbed a piece of Nazi-occupied Europe and began the liberation of a continent.

BUT one word of warning. After the 50th D-Day commemorations in 1994, military charities reported a rise in the number of Normandy veterans suddenly overwhelmed by terrible memories they had subdued for half a century. It is right to commemorate such events, so long as we are prepared for some old soldiers being traumatised in their 90s by the things they saw in their 20s.

IN a careless moment last week I described my ancestors as "ginger farmers in the Yorkshire Dales." By which I meant they were farmers and they were ginger. They were not, as a couple of readers have suggested, farmers of ginger.

INCIDENTALLY, if my computer predictive-text program, had its way, yesterday's item on the humble octopus would have been about "October." It really is carp.

• Peter Rhodes will be speaking at Wolverhampton Literature Festival on Sunday February 3 at 11am. Admission free. See www.wolvesliteraturefestival.co.uk/peter-rhodes/4594474409