Sense of humour

Courtney was a rough, tough, larger-than-life character with a great sense of humour. During a brief spell back in Britain in the 1930s, he was involved in a much-publicised hoax at Loch Ness. He used the foot of a hippopotamus he had killed in Africa to leave prints mimicking those of the fabled local monster. This created a sensation in the press.

One of his wartime officers described him as having a ‘bashed-in kind of face and a blunt, no-nonsense manner that was intimidating on first meeting. Fortunately, that was soon dispelled by a great bellowing laugh’.

Courtney served as a sergeant in the Palestinian Police during the Arab Revolt of the late 1930s. He also had a flair for writing, publishing several books about his adventures in Africa and Palestine.