“It  must have been painted by an Italian prisoner of war held in a camp near Newtown…the name ‘W. Laschet’ is signed on the painting…Those prisoners used to work on farms around the place, really close to the place where my wife was born. Dorothy was born and grew up in ‘The Wern’, a beautiful timber framed house in Gregynog (Wales). She was a teacher and she moved to Leeds when we married and we had two wonderful children. Nonetheless, she was always very fond of the little house where she grew up…even if it had no hot water!The house belongs to the state now…but it is still the same place that inspired someone called W. Laschet, back in 1946!”

William Spier

Dorothy in front of the house she grew up in and sightseeing…

 Bill and Dorothy as cast of Toad in the Hole in 1956, where they met for the first time and fell in love!