John Freeman’s years as British high commissioner to India, 1965-68, happily coincided with my own stay there, sponsored by the Ministry of Overseas Development, as a professor at Delhi’s Indian Institute of Technology and occasionally invited to High Commission events. Tall, well-built and handsome, with wavy, gingerish hair, Freeman (obituary, 29 December) was a combination of diplomatic charm and intimidating presence. Yet despite his determination to represent Britain’s Labour government as a new political and cultural presence, the high commissioner’s extensive private compound, with accompanying croquet lawn and equipment, did little to convey to both Indian and British guests that, as the writer Khushwant Singh observed, he was little different from a “pukka sahib”.
