Annoying noise
Sir: Candida Crewe's interview with me Nods and angels nowhere', 18 January) took place, as she describes, on a train — and not an empty one.
She says that our fellow-passengers rus- tled their newspapers while I gave the impression of 'talking in a loud voice delib- erately. . . a bit like a teenager who shouts "fuck" in a bus full of OAPs'. But it was Miss Crewe who, to save time, chose to 'Do you have a reservation?' interview me on the train, and, perhaps to prevent me from reading her notes, chose to sit opposite me rather than beside me, which would have enabled me to whisper. As it was, she seems to have misheard some of what I said, as her article contains sever- al inaccuracies.
Barbara Smoker
6 Stanstead Grove, London SE6
Sir: To quote Candida Crewe: 'Her voice grew louder with the excitement of the memory before reaching a crescendo,' (18 January). Please tell Miss Crewe, and all the other writers who misuse the word, that a crescendo is not a degree of loudness, but the act of growing louder. One does not reach a crescendo; it is the crescendo that does the reaching.
Steve Race
Westcott, Martins End Lane, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire
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