17 FEBRUARY 1996, Page 23

Sir: I was intrigued to read that until the mid

Fifties French women washed only their feet in their bidets.

I first encountered the bidet many years ago in Germany. Curious but naïve, I asked my hostess if that was what she washed the baby in. 'No', she said, 'that's where I wash the baby out'.

W.G. Speer

6 High Bannerdown, Batheaston, Bath