Robert Elphick, big freeze victim, learns to walk again

Robert Elphick (photo), correspondent in Moscow and Algiers before turning to broadcasting and then becoming spokesman for the European Commission, is learning to walk again after falling victim to Britain’s big winter freeze.

“My wife gave me strict orders not to go out. I went out, slipped on the ice almost on cue and cracked the top of my left femur,” he recounts.

He was fitted with a new hip on 23 December and spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day in hospital. “They got me up precariously a couple of hours after the operation and let me home on 27 December as soon as I could demonstrate that I could get up and down stairs without too much danger to the household. So here I am still housebound by the cold and learning to walk properly without a crutch. They say it'll take at least until the end of the month (when I have to see the surgeon again). Fortunately he assured me he had not given me any medicaments that might interfere with a reasonable intake of alcohol, so I am able to raise a glass of two and join in any New Year festivity. Happy New Year to all The Baron's readers.”

Elphick (Reuters 1955-1964) was in Moscow from 1958 to 1962 and after a short spell in London became correspondent, North Africa from 1963 to 1964. He worked for the BBC before joining the European Commission in 1977. ■