13 JANUARY 2007, Page 21

The pots of the palace

From Paulo Lowndes Marques Sir: I was amused to see in Bevis Hillier's review of a book on euphemisms that chamber pots used to be described as 'articles' by journalists (Books, 16/23 December). It reminded me of the Churchill story where the great man was listening to the Archbishop of Canterbury's lamentations on the expense of running Lambeth Palace. 'Imagine, it has 50 bedrooms,' complained the Archbishop. To which Churchill replied, Ah, but only 39 Articles'.

Paulo Lowndes Marques Lisbon, Portugal