Well-known South African journalist and travel writer Lawrence Green (1900-72) once owned a yacht, the yawl Amelia, which he kept moored at Table Bay Docks. One day, while inspecting his boat, he was annoyed to see that a rat had gnawed a sail, badly damaging it. Green set a trap, baiting it with tomato. (Apparently, rats find this difficult to resist.)
When Green returned to his yacht the next day, he found the rat dead, lying stiff beside the trap. But the bait was uneaten and the trap unsprung. Puzzled, he went to visit the port authority, which in turn sent a rat-catcher named Jimmy to help him. He was precisely the kind of individual who fascinated Green, who went on to interview
