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"Families couldn't afford to replace them," she says, adding children had no choice but to wear black plimsolls, but "unsympathetic" schools would send them home.

But oh, the lightness and pleasure of Lily and Ruth, their keen companionship over tea and toast, quick trips to the seaside, plimsolls by the door.

"After 10 years of investigating, all they had to show was a plimsoll and cagoule that everyone wore," he said.

Goods branded with the mouthless cartoon adorned with a trademark hair bow are sold in 130 countries worldwide, with the range extending from prosecco to plimsolls.

Only later, he reveals, did he discover that he had broken two ribs and a bone in his ankle after his plimsolls got stuck in the stirrups.