Juno, Achilles, Elsa Mayo, Kemsing, Mrs. Joy Cutlack

Hello, It's Hercules: The little fellow taking a bow before the lens of cameragirl Elsa Mayo is Hercules, the baby tortoise. It was four years ago that mother Juno was introduced to proud father Achilles, in the garden of solicitor's clerk David Cutlack, at Kemsing, Kent. But tortoises are slow, even when it comes to doing the what comes naturally. And it wasn't until July this year that Juno was finally spotted digging a hole and laying three eggs. It is very rare indeed for tortoises to breed in Britain's cold climate. But Mrs. Joy Cutlack put the eggs in a tin of sand in here airing cupboard. She said: We had given up hope of them hatching when Hercules suddenly surfaced." He weighed in at just a quarter of an ounce and now, a month later, is matchbox-sized, slowly blossoming in a heated plant propagation frame. Hercules comes under the parental scrutiny of Achilles and June. November 1974 P000725"