Ratcatcher,

 

I remember very clearly that I returned to Bangkok soon after my wedding in Linkoping Cathedral, Sweden on 4 September 1988, a date I have never been able to scratch from the record book of my life. 

 

I said to Buster, then BC manager, that as I would not be going anywhere until Christmas, and wanting to set the tone for my marriage from the off, I would be at the British Club bar every Tuesday for anyone who would like to join me for a spoof.

 

Buster said he had never managed to get anything going on Tuesday evenings and that he would regard it as his professional duty to join me on the long, hard road ahead.

 

I asked him to keep it quiet to start with, in case it did not take off and in order to preserve the low profile I would seek to maintain in the Bangkok expatriate community over the coming years. 

 

The following Tuesday Buster duly showed himself to be the reliable friend and dependable British Club servant that we all know him to be.

 

For, as my driver swept me through the BC gates, I was struck by acres of garish bunting bearing the slogan 'WELCOME TO THE BANGKOK SPOOFERS!' accompanied by thousands of bright balloons, loud music, colourfully garlanded staff bearing trays of drinks, cameras flashing and the world press (well, the Bangkok Post) thrusting microphones through the car window as I counted my coins.

 

With a knowing nod in the direction of my new best friend, the Manager of the British Club, I entered the bar and the fray and the rest is history.

 

As to the Championship, I can confirm that I would definitely have arranged this for the first available December in order to capitalise on the momentum we had established, to introduce my fellow spoofers to the strict protocol and solemn order of such occasions and to justify the quiet, understated launch that Buster had kindly provided on the first day of spoofing in the British Club.

 

Finally, as to your proposal that we started in 1987, I can confirm that, in 1987, I had never been to Bangkok in my life. Ogilvy & Mather offered me the Thailand job just before Easter 1988 when, while on rugby tour in Kenya, I proposed to my wife on the Island Camp at Lake Baringo.

 

I trust this clarifies the matter.

 

Keep taking the pills, mate.

 

WTHAO,

 

Hugh