22 FEBRUARY 1997, Page 25

Grand old man

Sir: How can Alan Watkins dare call Churchill 'the old war criminal' (Diary, 15 February)? Perhaps he has been reading too Many 'revisionist historians'. I would refer him to Martin Gilbert and the excellent vol- ume of Crosby Kemper lectures, delivered at the Churchill Memorial, Fulton, Missouri. Without Churchill's leadership in the 1940s it is unlikely that Man Watkins would be free to air his views today.

Noel Mander

Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri