19 DECEMBER 1987, Page 57

Pedants' corner

Sir: I have just received the grammarian's ultimate Christmas gift. On page 52 of your 5 December issue, Mr Richard Ingrams writes (about the house in which he grew up . . . sshome mishtake here surely, I thought it was one of Shrewsbury School's — or possibly that he hadn't), 'Now demolished, I can call it to mind in almost perfect detail.'

We all knew that English grammar had long since gone for the proverbial Burton. But Mr Ingrams demolished? That is some- thing beyond one's wildest dreams.

T. Bryant

British Consulate-General, Munich, West Germany