SIR,--I cannot allow to pass without comment. Mr. Booker's references
to myself in the Spectator of August 6. He refers. to the Observer Magazine and then talks about the 'amateurishness with which it employed Jim Clark to write about driving invalid carriages and then lost him (for a financial flea- bite) to the Daily Express at just the very moment when he was about to become a national hero by winning the Indianapolis 500. . .
The following comments must be made on this tasteless and inaccurate paragraph:
The Observer did not employ me to write about invalid vehicles. I am free to write on any subject I choose and did so in that case. If an article on ,the problems facing disabled drivers is 'amateurish,' I plead guilty to Mr. Booker's charge. But I must • add that I am prouder of that article than anything else I have written. It set afoot in Parliament and elsewhere a campaign for better vehicles for the disabled and the Ministry of Health has been given the shoals of heart-rending letters I received from handicapped drivers all over the country. The Disabled Drivers' Association has since made me its vice-president and I am very proud of this honour and will continue to do all I can to help members of the Association, however much it offends 'professionals' like Mr. Booker.
The Observer has not 'lost' me. I am still writing articles for the magazine and will continue to do so. I take pride in my association with the magazine.
The reference to being 'lost' to the Daily Express for a 'fleabite' (whatever that may mean) is equally offensive and inaccurate. I gave an extended inter- view ,to the Daily Express (with the full knowledge of the Observer) in grateful recognition of the fact that the Express sponsors the British Grand Prix and does so much for British motor racing. A series of articles ('as told to' their motoring writer) was published immediately after the Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Mr. Booker is as hazy on times as he is on facts. I was not 'lost' to the Daily Express when I was 'about to become a national hero by winning the Indianapolis 500.' The Express pieces were published two months after the Indianapolis race. My report on the US race was telephoned to the Observer and was published prominently by that newspaper.
JIM CLARK
Edinglon Mains, Duns, Berwicks.
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