ichael Aspel OBE was a familiar face on our TV screens for decades presenting such programmes as . However, he was). Born in Battersea, South-West London, on 12 January 1933, Aspel was evacuated to Chard in Somerset with his brother Alan and sister Pat. Unfortunately, he was immediately separated from his siblings and billeted with a middle-aged couple, Rose and George Larcombe. Aspel remembered his first evening with Rose very well as, despite her kindness, he was desperately unhappy to have been separated from his family. “Eventually the thoughts became too much to bear and I said, ‘I want my mum.’ Rose went to a cupboard and after a few minutes’ rummaging brought out an air rifle which belonged to her son Leonard who was a soldier.
