Sir: It was not Charles Ritz (report, 22 October) who was the first hotelier to install rooms with a bath. It was his father, Cesar Ritz, who did this and was known as the king of hoteliers and the hotelier of kings. Cesar it was who employed the great chef Escoffier and established hotels in Paris, London and Madrid.
Charles, the son, had a flat in the Place Vendome, but he was much more interested in fly-fishing than in running hotels. His autobiography is called A Fly Fisher's Life and he was described as one of the finest of all fly-fishermen by no less than Ernest Hemingway.
I watched him give a casting demonstration at Netheravon in Wiltshire in 1974 when he was well over 80 and was greatly impressed.
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