Pillar of honour
Sir: Modern comedians acknowledge their debt to the music halls. Why then does Piers Paul Read so grossly malign St Simeon Stylites (`Sex and sin', 4 April) by denying him eternal applause? Our society is not the first to spot that 'a life in prayer on top of a pillar appears absurd'. Aerial contemplation has always made good theatre.
St Simeon, friend of the famous, achieved comic stardom in his own lifetime and was blessed with many imitators. There is no reason to assume his popularity has ever fallen far. Gibbon gave him a boost and his rating soared among the Victorians, including homage from Lord Tennyson. `This is one of the poems A.T. would read with grotesque grimness . . . laughing aloud at times.'
Those who seek St Simeon's monument today should be grateful to Mr Read for being an old trouper, despite his upstart refusal to acknowledge a great tradition. Napier Miles
93 Flood Street, London SW3
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