To the casual observer, there might seem nothing unusual about cruise ship passenger Lewis Dunkerley?s black and grey tweed jacket.

As the 71-year-old embarked from the Black Prince in Hamilton?s Front Street last Wedesday morning, no one could have known that the vintage piece of clothing he was wearing had been bought almost half a century ago on this very Island.

Since then, retired policeman Mr. Dunkerley has travelled all over the world, visiting 184 countries and living and working in 14 of them.

Along the way, he has always been accompanied by his favourite jacket ? bought for ?25 in 1961 at Smith?s department store in Hamilton.

At the time, Mr. Dunkerley, from Burton-on-Trent, England, was a Police Constable stationed at the capital?s Police station.

He told yesterday: ?I bought this in February ? exactly 45 years ago. It cost ?25 and that was a hell of a lot of money then.

?I?ve always kept it but I have only worn it occasionally. I look on it like an heirloom or a souvenir of my time here. It was the first time I saw a palm tree and the first time I had a really good jacket. I?m saving up for a new one now! I?m also wearing a shirt from that time and a police tie from Trimingham?s.?

Mr. Dunkerley lived in the old Admiralty House in Spanish Point and at Salt Kettle, Paget, while in Bermuda. He left in the early 1960s but has returned several times since.

He arrived yesterday with friend Monica Morris, 72, who spent three years as a French teacher at Bermuda High School, from 1961 to 1964. She was then known as Miss Short but met her husband Max here and married him in 1963. She was widowed six years ago.

Father-of-two Mr. Dunkerley was a friend of the couple?s in Bermuda and he and Mrs. Morris, also from Burton-on-Trent, now go on regular cruises together. ?Coming in this morning was wonderful,? said Mr. Dunkerley. ?It still looked the same. We were quite emotional on the deck. I saw, in Paget, the Kettle where I used to live. I have travelled the world since I was here but this was my first overseas post.?

Mother-of-one Mrs. Morris last visited the Island in 1983. She said: ?We are disappointed that Smith?s and Trimingham?s are no longer with us but it?s lovely to be back.?

The pair had only a few hours to spend on the Island yesterday, during which they visited Mr. Dunkerley?s former colleague Lawrence Rawlins, of Somerset.