Generous and brilliant

The Century Ago column (July 11) highlighted Lewis Galea’s brilliant results in the Matriculation exam of 1912 in which he passed with honours and placed first in order of merit. He later graduated as a lawyer and was eventually appointed Attorney General. He was the son of the philantropist and pioneer of the Maltese language Alfonso Maria Galea and was involved in the translation of our laws into Maltese.

His sister, Frances, was married to my uncle, Alfred Zammit, an architect with whom I had my professional practice. When I was studying post-grad in London in 1953, Dr Galea and his wife frequently came to London

where they usually stayed in Kensington, off the Cromwell Road where I had my modest digs. He invariably rang me up and kindly invited me to dinner and updated me on things in Malta. As I was on a scholarship, on a shoestring budget, literally on the breadline, this was not simply a courtesy but a greatly appreciated lifeline. I am still grateful for these occasional visits to a proper restaurant at a time when 'I nivver knew where a meal’s to be had'.