I knew that it was love as soon as I set eyes on Liz. Alas, she was married to my mate — a swimmer — so I made no advances. Until my wife went away for a while . . .

The night she left, I went to a party and saw Liz sitting alone in a corner; she was deep in thought. I sat in the chair next to her — a large, comfortable piece of furniture. She turned to me and said: “Are you sad that your wife is away?” I must have looked sad, because she joined me in the tight squeeze of the aforementioned chair. “I could soon cheer you up,” she promised.

It was love. The next day was my day off, so I drove down to her house. She seemed unsurprised to see me and invited me in. Soon we were in a passionate embrace that transferred into the bedroom. I was certainly in love.

But then there was a knock on the door. I grabbed my clothes and went into the downstairs toilet, locking the door. It was her close friend, Eileen, who had called by with her two children for a cup of tea. I remained in the toilet but heard Eileen say: “I must use your loo.” Liz told her that the bolt was stuck and that she was waiting for a man to come and fix it; she suggested that Eileen use the upstairs bathroom, which she did, but quite quickly, leaving me no time to get out of the house.

There was a lull in the conversation and I figured that they had gone into the garden. By that time I was fully dressed again; I opened the toilet door and peeped out but could see nothing. I decided to brave it and made a dash for the open front door, and managed not to be seen by the ladies.

The 6ft front gate was tied up to prevent Eileen’s young children from escaping on to the road, so the final obstacle was that I had to climb over it to escape.

When I saw Liz later that week I told her that, although our brief fling had been most enjoyable, it was too dangerous to continue. This affair was in 1964 and, to this very day, I still love her!

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