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Beetlemania!
PETER FROST confesses to perverse doings in his youth – but not with John, Paul, George or Ringo
An oil beetle

ABOUT 60-plus years ago when I was a snotty-nosed schoolboy in shorts and a cap, I did some things that make me feel very embarrassed today. I kept all sorts of native wild animals in cages.

Today it would be illegal, and rightly so, but these were days before the words environment, sustainability or conservation were widely heard about.

I kept caterpillars and watched them turn into butterflies and frogspawn that became tiny froglets. Newts were a real favourite, along with lizards, slowworms and one very handsome yard-long grass snake.

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