11 MARCH 1960, Page 17

Sta.—Mr. Cairns's sepulchral conundrums are not as difficult as all

that to answer if names arc sub- stituted for numbers of successful alumni from the London conservatoires. From the Royal College of Music, which is the institution I know best, have come in the thirty years of Mr. Cairns's question : Benjamin Britten, Malcolm Arnold and Humphrey Searle (composers); Colin Horsley, Eric Harrison and Lamar Crowson (pianists) ;Elsie Morison, Joan Sutherland and Monica Sinclair (singers); Hugh can and Alan Lornday (violinists); Amorylis Fleming (cellist); and wind players galore. From the Royal Academy of Music I can name the Griller String Quartet, Clifford Curzon and Denis Matthews (pianists), without pausing to do any of the research Mr. Cairns ought to have done for himself.—Yours faithfully, The ilthenwunt, Pall Mall, SW I

FRANK HOWES