12 AUGUST 1949, Page 4

It was with a faint chill of horror that I

read in The Times an advertisement which ran "Gentleman would like to contact person capable of writing good after-dinner speeches. Plenty of humour." The implications of this advertisement are both clear and alarming. The gentleman, already aware that he himself is not much of a hand at after-dinner speeches, nevertheless confidently expects to receive, and fully intends to accept, numerous invitations to make them. We must all hope, for our own sakes, as well as for his, that he gets hold of an absolutely first-class stooge.

* * *