GEORGE HALL McLAUGHLIN, my grandfather, is standing in this picture. The three other lads in the boat are his brothers: from left to right, Vivian, Crofton and Hubert.

Little did the three younger ones know that they were in the same boat in another, much sadder, sense. Although Crofton lived in wedded bliss until he was 81, George dropped dead from coronary heart disease at the age of 55. So did Hubert. As for Vivian, he lasted only to 52.

What a pity that open heart surgery was not available - a quadruple bypass saved my life when I was 65.

A boat was a fairly common studio prop when the photograph was made about 1877 by Peter Truefitt of 65 Princes Street, Edinburgh. However, the swirling water was an unusual touch.

The three older sons appear in an earlier picture, shown on the right. The boy in the rustic chair is Master George – I had the same appellation at his age. His elder brother Crofton  sits on the pouffe. The lad holding a cricket bat is Hubert, George's younger brother.

Notice Hubert's long locks of hair. George wore such tresses until he was five, when the groom, declaring it was sissy for a boy to have curls, chopped them off. In those days very young boys were dressed as girls, as in this early picture of my godfather Charles Norton.

The boys were born in three successive years, beginning in 1858. Then in 1865 the stork brought a surprise: the fourth child, Vivian.