16 MARCH 1985, Page 5

A common fate

rr he March/April issue of the magazine 'Antiques Across The World contains an article by Sir lain Moncrieffe of that Ilk. The contents page advertises it thus: WARNING OF IMPENDING DOOM One of the privileges of nobility appears to be that you are warned of your death by foxes, owls or hedgehogs. Sir lain Moncrief- fe of that Ilk collects the stories.

Sir lain died in the week in which this article was published. Why did the foxes, owls and hedgehogs of Easter Moncrieffe remain so obstinately silent? It cannot be that Sir lain, of all people, was not entitled to the 'privileges of nobility'.