360She said: "I was living in Accra, Ghana, working as a journalist and lodging in a kind of boarding house with 4 other English girls.

The landlord was a grumpy, elderly Ghanaian man who was extremely wealthy by their standards and who appeared to make a tidy income from renting out his spare rooms to foreigners. The cost of our lodging included a very simple breakfast and dinner - the former consisting simply of bread, butter, and tea.

When the butter ran out one day, we asked our landlord if he could provide some more. He refused, saying that he had only bought butter a few weeks ago and we were getting through it too quickly.

We pointed out that there were 5 of us, and it had been a small tub, to which he replied that the other, perhaps more important reason why he would not buy any more was because butter is bad for us and he didn't want us to get fat.

When I argued that perhaps we were old enough to decide for ourselves what we should or shouldn't eat, he stunned everyone in the room by replying that actually I should watch out as I was already getting a bit fat!"

Taken just off Portobello Road, Notting Hill, London.