The ‘retirement’of Cuba’s Fidel Castro takes me back – in memory anyway – close to 50 years, when Castro’s attempts to overthrow the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista was one of the big stories of the year.

In those days I was the Daily Mail’s ‘fireman’in New York, the reporter ready to rush off – like a fireman – to the big story of the day.

As a result, I spent many weeks in Havana in l959 covering the story of Castro’s efforts to topple Batista.