My mother was struck by lightning on 1 June 1953, the day before the coronation, while playing golf (What it’s like to be struck by lightning, 13 July). It was reported in the Times the next day, rather less prominently than the news of the conquest of Everest.
Happily she survived another 55 years, but she spent quite a long time in hospital, with nobody knowing how to treat her, suffering from severe burns, depression (for which electric shock treatment was suggested, until it was pointed out that this was what she had already had) and muscle weakness.
I remember later on that summer, aged 15, sitting in the front passenger seat of the car and having to help her with the steering wheel to turn corners. Some 10 years later, in her 40s, she began to become progressively deaf.
She always maintained she owed her life to the fact that she was wearing a silk vest, which had insulated her heart area while her neck and shoulders were badly burned. But the experience didn’t put her off playing golf!
Penny Aldred
London
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