Sir, – As ever Frank McNally (An Irishman's Diary, January 13th) is to say the least very funny as he searches for the etymology of "latchiko". I must say I agree with Diarmaid Ó Muirithe's opinion that it had its roots among the Irish in England.
I remember in the late 1960s or early 1970s a hit that would be played on the jukebox in Finch’s of Notting Hill Gate to great acclaim by a rather eclectic customer base – mostly Irish, West Indians and hippies. It was The Latchyco by (if my memory serves) “Wexford” Kiely. It told the story of twin brothers, one a hard-working labourer and the other a hard-drinking “latchyco” who would, among other dastardly things, turn up on pay day and collect his brother’s wages.
However, it had a very sentimental ending, as on a dark winter’s night when a woman fell into the canal at Camden Lock, who jumped in and rescued her but “The Latchyco”, losing his own life in the process. – Yours, etc,
TERRY CONNAUGHTON,
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Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.