11 MAY 1956, Page 15

'DOWN THE CORRIDORS'

Sta,—I was grateful to your reviewer, Mr. Daniel George, for his polite allusion to Down the Corridors by Fielden Hughes, but I was somewhat astonished to find the book men- tioned under 'New Novels.' It is, of course, not a novel at all, and it would be unhelpful to the book, in spite of Mr. George's kind reference, for it to be recorded as fiction when

it is a factual account of a day in a large school, with comments on our educational system by its author, a headmaster of long experience.—Yours faithfully, It. VAN THAL

Arthur Barker Ltd., 30 Museum Street, WC1

[Mr. Daniel George writes : 'This may be a "factual accoont," but it is indebted to fiction for its style. Parents, masters, scholars and others arceresented as though they inhabited a novel, Ad they behave accordingly, turning on their heels, raising their eyebrows, frown- ing inwardly, etc. I can only hope that, misled myself, 1 have misled others, and that the format of the book will attract purchasers whom the subject of education, treated in how- ever sprightly a manner, might repel:—Editor, Spectator.]