Enemies as friends: the Old Etonian and the copper's son

There are few things more complex than the chemistry of intense rivalry.

Allow an illustration. As a teenager the family's next door neighbour was the endlessly decorated World War II fighter ace Bob Stanford-Tuck, still whip-thin, a handsome figure with a fondness for pink gin and possessed of a terrifying bark.

He was chums with that legend Douglas Bader, a hugely moderate individual, but Bob's greatest friend was the outstanding German ace General Adolf Galland, who had 58 kills to his name.