13 JANUARY 1973, Page 5

Not done darlings

I see that Professor Ross, the academic who invented the distinction between U and non-U which Nancy Mitford exploited in a celebrated essay, is at it again, with a new list of words and usages • which illustrate social origins. One of his observations is that Harold Wilson uses more clichés than Ted Heath. This will surprise most reporters who have listened to the two men over recent years. I have developed my own theory about U and non-U, which is that for an academic or a novelist to write and discuss the matter at length is most definitely non-U.