I was sure that an elephant stepped on a man and crushed him to death in Elephant Walk, but that scene in fact belonged in a very different film called The Beachcomber. Which in turn starred Robert Newton—my favourite pirate—although I failed to recognise him. Unlike the elephant. It gets bitten on the snoze by a crocodile and Glynis Johns patches him up. Later, she, Newton and another unfortunate are staked out on the ground and are to be ritually executed by being stomped on by the sacred elephant. But, of course, it’s the same elephant and they never forget, do they? Actually, they don't have any better memory than any other animal, which isn't much, but like most myths, it's far more fun than the truth. It’s based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham, by the way. In any case, I kept my distance from the elephants whenever we went to the zoo—I still do.