Sir, I was delighted to learn more of the life of the remarkable Georg(e) Kantorowicz from Prof Gelbier's recent account.1 My memories of George's energy and character mirror those of Professor Kidd where the badinage in the Staff Common Room at the Royal Dental Hospital (euphemistically referred to in the presence of patients as the Ground Floor Clinic) were the highlight of many a day.

At the time, I was an orthodontic registrar working in David Walther's Department where, although a full-time Professor of the University of London, he had been able to negotiate a unique arrangement whereby he was permitted to take his annual leave at the beginning and end of each week throughout the year. Thus, he would arrive at the hospital at midday on Monday and leave at lunchtime on Friday in order to return home to his farm in Shropshire. Such ‘long weekends' were the envy of other full-time academic staff at the time, such as Bill Sims and Bob Nairn. On one occasion, George related to his colleagues how while on holiday in Bridgnorth that year he happened to mention to a local countryman that he knew a man called Walther who he thought farmed around there. ‘Aarrh,' replied the local, ‘Not much of a farmer though. He has some part-time job in London!' Needless to say this, like so many of George's stories, was well received.