Davy Jones

Further to your obituary of Davy Jones, (2 March), I knew Davy in the early 1960s, when we were residents of the BBC Hostel in Bayswater, writes Judy Vero. The hostel offered strictly supervised board and lodging to young people up in London for their first jobs. We were a mixed bunch of trainee cooks, clerks, cameramen and actors.

Davy, 15 and fresh from his jockeying days at Newmarket, was embarking on his second career as an actor, with a part in an episode of Z-Cars. His diminutive form and soft crewcut immediately endeared him to us all.

I recorded in my diary for 7 June1961 that a crowd of us had taken an evening walk around the park, and "little David had brightened the party up". Afterwards we went to a coffee bar and then returned to the hostel, where we sat in the lounge. Sometimes we'd sit and chat on the front step. Davy was always the centre of attraction, unfailingly cheerful, full of mischief and great fun to be with.

I last saw him in early 1962, when I visited him in his dressing room at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, where he was appearing as one of the little Darlings in Peter Hall's production of Peter Pan. Even after 50 years my memory of him is as vivid as ever.