There is another possible source of confusion.
Older British footwear sizing could be misleading when remembered decades later.
Children’s sizes traditionally ran up to 13 before beginning again at adult size 1.
Consequently, somebody remembering a “size 11 slipper” does not automatically mean an enormous adult size 11.
It might conceivably have been a child’s size 11.
That certainly will not explain every recollection, particularly where witnesses clearly remember a very large shoe.
But it adds another little complication to the mystery.
