"There is one aspect about myself that has always puzzled me. Why do I have a good head of hair (despite my three younger brothers having very little to comb), and a hairless chest? For many years I didn't know what to make of this until one evening I was watching an English broadcaster and naturalist presenting his 'Life Series' on BBC television. The programme in question saw him sitting remarkably close to a family of gorillas in the forest when suddenly it dawned on me that these mighty creatures had smooth chests.
Later reading and research led me to discover that whereas the hair on a man's chest is thought to denote strength, this is no more than an old wives' tale. I also learned that the gorilla is the most powerful of bipeds and has hair on every place on his body 'except for his chest.' From that moment on I have had an affinity with gorillas and the more I learned about their dignity, the more I wanted to share their space.
Then as fate would have it, in later life I met my wife Sheila who was born in the Chinese year of the Monkey and affinity was instantly shared. Like the gorilla and myself, she has no hair on her chest either and scratches her bum when she thinks I'm not looking! Funny old world, ain't it?" William Forde: April 23rd, 2016.