Like many parents of his generation my dad was a lovely man but a bit closemouthed about his family affairs and his former life. One time we had a Sikh gentleman knock on our back door selling trinkets, scarves and such like. Mam was out so Dad answered the door and I was utterly amazed when he burst into fluent Hindi. After a few moments, the vendor closed his case and said "Sahib, no use trying to sell to you, obviously you have been in my country and know all the tricks!" Dad then invited him in for a cup of tea and eventually bought mam a silk scarf. In the words of the great Ken Dodd "When I was young I thought my dad was ignorant. Funny how he got much cleverer as I got older!"