I just had to share this

This is from a leaflet we got detailing the wonders of the Burmese Army Trekking Stick (I kid you not!!)

'Indispensable for safe trekking particularly when negotiating sharp inclines and fording quick-moving streams. Originally designed by Sir Jeffrey Hillpig-Smyth for British Special Forces stationed at Mandalay in 1941.

A brief sketch of Sir Jeffrey Hillpig-Smyth

• Born London, 1910
• As a schoolboy - overweight, few friends, poor student, non-athletic yet polite, called 'Hillpiggy' by the staff.
• Harrow, 1928
• Sent down from Oxford for indecency, 1930
• Unsuccessfully stood for parliament, as an independent from the small constituency of Looting on the Thames, finishing fourth in a field of three, 1934
• Alcoholic, 1935
• Published at his own expense an angry and spirited collection of short essays entitled 'Sticks and Stones', 1936
• Alcoholic again, 1937
• Published a second collection of short essays entitled, Mudpuddles and Other Outrages, 1938
• Joined Military Intelligence & Engineering, the elite I&E group, 1939
• Assigned to British Special Forces, Mandalay, British East India (Burma), 1940
• Recovering from a minor fall, designed the Military Trekking Stick, 1941
• Disappeared while on a morning mini-trek within the Special Forces compound. A search party was organised and diligently combed the 3 acre area for well over an hour, sadly to no avail, 1944
• Officially still missing, September 1992
• Unofficially, over the years there have been periodic sightings of Hillpiggy in the Burmese jungle
• The latest, as recent as the last monsoon, has Hillpiggy on elephant leading a small group of well-disciplined guerrillas near Kuhn Sa's stronghold at Nam King.

Further information is available by writing to:

Find the Hillpig Society
9/1 Arrak Road Soi 7
Chiangmai, Thailand

The reward of 25 pound sterling for information confirming Hillpiggy's status remains in effect.'

I have even found a website where you can buy one of the walking sticks (Teak Limey)