19 JULY 1946, Page 13

Sts,—May I point out that Lord Macmillan, in his highly

agreeable article with the above title, falls into an erros in attributing two novels to our Mr. Winston Churchill. He wrote Savrola, but not The Celebrity, which was the first novel of the American Winston Churchill and pub- lished in 1898.

In this connection I suggest that not many readers will remember that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, when he was finding his literary feet, wrote a story called The Firm of Girdlestone, not, I think, included in his publications now on sale. It has been said, with what truth I know not, that when the Doctor had made his fame, and publishers were hustling each other in their efforts to obtain something from his pen, he would open a cemetery-dower of old, " returned with thanks " manuscripts, stick a fork into it and fish out a roll at random, which he would send away in the certain knowledge that it would find a willing publisher and

an appreciative public.—Yours faithfully, . W. J. McComon. 16 Westbourne. Street, W. 2.