A good buy from him

I DON’T agree that a hardware shop in Broadstairs, Kent, was the inspiration for the Two Ronnies’ beloved Four Candles sketch.

According to local legend, actor David Jason visited the ironmonger’s run by Arthur Bickington in Taff’s Well, near Cardiff, and told Ronnie Barker about it.

Arthur sold nails by weight and had tin baths hanging outside on hooks.

Though the shop was filled to the rafters, the aisles getting ever narrower, he always knew where to find any elusive object you required.

David Jason’s then girlfriend was actress Myfanwy Talog, who lived in Taff’s Well, and he was a frequent visitor to the area.

He would have known about Arthur, a 20th century Mr Pickwick, a most wonderful old gentleman who was never without a bow-tie and ready smile, and always found time for a bit of gossip. S. SLOCOMBE, Llanon, Dyfed. I WAS the young man involved in an incident in a hardware store in Broadstairs that inspired the Four Candles comedy sketch.

I had arrived in Britain from my native Italy and my English was not very good. I had just moved into a new flat and went to a nearby shop to buy four handles for the doors, but the male sales assistant misunderstood my request and gave me four candles.

I tried to explain what I wanted, but he still couldn’t understand, so in the end I had to point to the door.

When I told my fellow workmates about this misunderstanding, they thought it was hilarious.

SILVIO D’ANGELO, Westgate-on-Sea, Kent.