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Back in 2006 I became a member of the Guild of Aviation Artists – have a look at www.gava.org.uk, then Galleries and hit their Gallery Archive button, at the bottom of the page; have a look at 2006 and 2007.

     I exhibited at their annual exhibition for two years, which is held at the Mall Galleries, a stone's throw from Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column and is very posh! I entered the painting 'Jaguar on Heat' that is described in Scribbles 1. The painting won several prizes including best picture in acrylics and the British Aircraft Manufacturers' award.

   Giving out the prizes that day was the distinguished guest, Captain Eric Melrose "Winkle" Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC, MA, Hon FRAeS, RN. Winkle was born on 21st January 1919. He was the most decorated pilot in the Royal Navy officer and test pilot who, unbelievably, had flown more types of aircraft than anyone else in history - 487 designs! (I believe this record was recently broken by an American). He passed away in February 2016, and was the Fleet Air Arm’s most decorated pilot and held the world record for aircraft carrier landings.

     He turned out to be a wonderful character at the art exhibition.  It came to the prize giving and I stepped on to the small stage to receive my awards from "Winkle". He had lovely gravelly Scottish voice. He shook my hand, congratulated me on my prize success, and then pulled me towards him asking, ‘Are you THE Peter Sissons, the one that used to be on the television and read the news?’ I laughed because, back in the 90s, that had happened to me all the time, especially on the phone. I replied, ‘No, but I am THE Peter Sissons, the other one just reads the news.’ "Winkle" laughed his socks off!

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That was a great moment to have shaken the hand of someone who had interviewed Reich Marshal Goering and the famous Hanna Reitsch, Nazi Germany's celebrated woman test pilot who had flown the VI rocket bomb in sub-orbital flight in the early 1940's. "Winkle" told me he had also flown, tested and evaluated all the German planes that had fallen into allied hands – his experiences will never ever be repeated by any future pilot. A true gentleman.

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Try and get a copy of his autobiography - 'Wings on my Sleeve' - and be amazed at what he did with his life.

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