My good friend, Mr Bright, told me a story about how the late dictator and father of the nation of Malawi was not Malawian at all.

He was, said Mr Bright, an American impostor. I did a little investigating and when a new Banda took office in Malawi I decided it was time to write about it. The Argus published it – see below for the story. (By the way, that’s not Mr Bright waterskiing in the picture. Nor is it Hastings Banda or Richard Armstrong – it’s a waiter at a resort at Lake Malawi in about 1980. He came out every day at 5pm, for show, and they sold these postcards at reception. Cringingly colonial, wouldn’t you say, old sport?)