Pub talk
Sir:
, In a letter to you a few months ago, I arm attention to the generous but I think Misguided latitude you give Richard In- grains in his regular column for the expres- si°11 of personal prejudice irrelevant to his t.ated himemployment. Now you have allowed , a platform for his abstemious nousemasterly views on alcohol (30 Oc- tober), which he has used to voice his resentment of Patrick Marnham's book, and I think you were being too kind to him again.
tit would not consider myself quite so en- ha at to complain were I not obliged to see 'urn at least twice a week in a pub used by Your friends, including my brother and /our columnist Jeffrey Bernard, who seem ia,ble to produce more lively and intelligent `.'r sometimes pleasantly nonsensical) con- iversation than I have ever overheard from angrarns's corner. And neither I, nor I think ‘11Y of us, would ever irritate him by urging Just a small one' on him even if we thought fli_c.could be persuaded to accept it. The kin- t'inl) he feels with Dr Johnson does not .ex- Aend, I think, beyond their shared malaise. e'rld although I hope I live as long as he, Zen with my own enlarged liver, I very cultich dislike the prospect of the kind of un- 'addled old age that Ingrams's friend Mug- gwerldge is enjoying and that he looks for- si,„rd ,t° so much himself — with its occa- k eyond our real intoxications' so happily
" reach.
41311.1 I must admit that I sometimes wish, , w think even Jeff might too, that there ,.,,ere some more persuasive arguments for the in drinking close at hand than gre cne offered by the sight of Richard In- w anis lunching, sure of a clear mind after- var.ds, in Norman Baton's otherwise con- tilvial Coach and Horses. tI8Ltice Bernard onkneacicnt WC1 Russell Street,
Previous page
