1 OCTOBER 1988, Page 43

No great shakos

Sir: Nirad C. Chaudhuri did well in the Diary of 17 September to chide the Times for printing 'fusillade! and 'volley' when the proper word for a salute by gun is 'salvo'. He would have done better not to have expressed his admiration for the 'shakos, uniforms and bearing' of the Royal Horse Artillery. A horse-gunner's headgear, on ceremonial occasions, is a busby, as is a hussar's. The shako is (or was) worn only by infantrymen.

Cyril Ray

KI Albany, Piccadilly, London WI