Monday, April the 5th, 2004
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On Thursday 1st April we published an anonymously-sent photograph of a man and a child, one of whom was purportedly Dobson. I suggested this was probably an April Fool's Day prank. Now, reader Peter C Ross writes:
Sir : Having known Dobson for more years than I care to mention I am certain that the photograph you have received is of Dobson as a child and that the figure behind is his father (also known as Dobson). The identification is further confirmed by the corner of a Crittal window visible in the background. It is a well known fact that Dobson spent his formative years behind such a window.
This is clearly nonsense. In his breathtaking—if indigestible—List Of Every Single Person Dobson Met In His Life, Jasper Poxhaven never mentions anyone named Ross, let alone Peter of that ilk, with or without a C. Our correspondent is either the shadowy figure who sent the photograph, or a maniac, or possibly both. There is a third possibility, but it is so terrifying in its implications that I will have to go and bathe my head in Dr Fleming's Brain Soothing Infusion & Nerve Tonic (for external use only) before addressing it…