15 JANUARY 1972, Page 19

Mis-spent youth

Sir: I would like to draw your attention to an error in your Christmas quiz (December 25): lithium is not a gas, as stated in question 6(ii), but a group I metal, with a boiling point of 1,400 C. After a useful and science-based education, I felt frustrated and humbled at being unable to answer almost the entire Christmas quiz, until I observed your error. Why is it that in our industrialised society a detailed knowledge of classical mythology and the minutiae of English history should remain as much of a status symbol as a public school education?

Susan Jones 42 Blackshots Lane, Grays, Essex.