Sir, My admiration for Colonel Benest (letter, Aug 29) knows no bounds but I wonder whether he is old enough to remember hobnailed ammunition boots. The mighty crash of a well-drilled company coming to attention and the noise we made marching on a hard road chivvied by our NCO were a pleasure which I fashionably denied at the time, but was shared by most of my comrades. I wonder if it would be possible to use hobnailed boots for ceremonial occasions rather than the carpet slippers which have shuffled in to replace them.
Antony Stanley Clarke
Mosterton, Dorset