I wrote the first of a number of "Dear Everton" columns in December 1979. The columns afforded an opportunity for levity and were addressed to a mythical Caribbean character named Everton Valentine who'd migrated to Notting Hill in London.

I chose the name in honour of two great characters of West Indies cricket; champion batsman Everton Weekes [later knighted] and bespectacled left-arm spinner Alf Valentine.